Fighting In Her Memory

TIGHT-KNIT GROUP BCNU stewards and bargaining committee members Lorraine Lajeunesse, Crystol Cole and Eva Wiercinski are proud of the gains they were able to make for themselves and their co-workers at Sooke's Ayre Manor care facility.

Whenever the four members of Ayre Manor's bargaining team felt a little discouraged about the state of contract negotiations, they'd ask themselves: "What would Anna do now?"

"We thought about Anna a lot during our negotiations," says Ayre Manor bargaining rep Lorraine Lajeunesse, who has worked as a housekeeper at the busy Sooke complex-care facility on Vancouver Island for about a decade. There are approximately 32 residents who require 24-hour care, as well as two beds at a recently opened on-site hospice.

"Anna Campbell was a housekeeper who started here before me," says Lajeunesse. "About five years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she eventually beat and was able to return to work. Unfortunately, the cancer came back in 2017 and she was forced to quit her job."

"Anna couldn't work, couldn't eat, required expensive special medical equipment, drugs, and procedures, such as an urgently-required MRI."

"Unfortunately," explains Lajeunesse, "we did not have long-term disability benefits to rely on and Anna quickly used up all eight days of her sick time, vacation time and medical employment insurance benefits."

Campbell's co-workers repeatedly came to her assistance, even launching a series of bottle drives to raise funds for Campbell and her partner. BCNU's Evelyn Hood Benevolence Fund also provided assistance. And two Ayre Manor board members paid about $3,500 out of their own pockets to help their former employee. Sadly, Campbell passed away, surrounded by friends and family, in late January 2018 – just a few short months before the new contract was ratified by members on May 16.

It was the first collective agreement to include long-term disability benefits.

"We wanted to make sure that not one of our other members has to suffer through what Anna experienced," says Ayre Manor bargaining team member and LPN Eva Wiercinski. "That's why getting LTD benefits for everyone who works there was such an important part of this round of bargaining."

"Anna's need for LTD was a huge part of why we were just not going to back down on the issue," adds Lajeunesse. "It became a real sticking point during negotiations. We were not going to leave until we got the LTD benefits for all our members at Ayre Manor. Whenever anyone waffled during bargaining, we would just say, 'What would Anna think?'

"I believe that Anna would be pleased that we succeeded in getting LTD written into our collective agreement, and making sure that none of our members will ever have to go through what she experienced at the end of her life."

"We did a good job during bargaining and got our members a good deal."

- Lorraine Lajeunesse

But securing LTD benefits wasn't the only issue on the table for Ayre Manor members. Their other demands included higher wages and benefits, more vacation time, improved sick leave language and higher life insurance payouts.

Ayre Manor is a wall-to-wall cert, which means the BC Nurses' Union represents all its approximately 100 workers, including cooks, housekeepers, care aides, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, recreation/activity workers, prep cooks, servers and casual staff.

Until 2013, most Ayre Manor employees, excluding the RNs, had been represented by the Hospital Employees' Union. The RNs were not in a union at that time. Then, after the RNs voted to join BCNU, the rest of the staff also voted to become BCNU members.

Anna Campbell was on the bargaining team that negotiated the previous 2014-2017 contract. It included a number of big gains, including a memorandum of understanding that called for discussions on getting members LTD benefits. Unfortunately, those talks did not occur until the latest round of bargaining, which began late last year.

The current bargaining team includes Crystol Cole, Janice Leask, Eva Wiercinski and Lorraine Lajeunesse. With the exception of Leask, none had previously ever sat across the negotiating table from their employer.

"But," says Wiercinski, "it was a wonderfully positive experience for me. It was a real eye opener. I learned so much. Before I joined the team, bargaining was a mystery to me. I didn't know how contracts work and what bargaining actually entails. And I also didn't really understand how LTD works, what it costs, who pays and all the other repercussions."

"I now know how important it is for members to know what they want to win during bargaining, and how to best achieve those goals. I'm still learning, and trying to soak it all in," she adds.

"Our BCNU labour relations officer, Laura Anderson, was so helpful. She was endlessly patient and always guided us in the right direction. I really enjoyed working with her. And we really appreciated having (BCNU president) Christine Sorensen visit our facility and take time out of her busy schedule to offer us her support and knowledge."

"We wanted to make sure that not one of our other members has to suffer through what Anna experienced."

- Eva Wiercinski

The recently-ratified contract, which runs from July 1, 2017 until June 30, 2020, makes progress in a number of areas. For example, improvements have been made to on-call, call-back and call-in language, there are better orientation and training programs, and a doubling of the life insurance policy to $50,000. Members now also have access to an employee family assistance program.

One of the biggest gains in the new contract concerns sick days. Employees can now accumulate the sick days they have not used at the end of each year. Previously, Ayre Manor staff lost any sick days they hadn't used by year-end. Now they can accumulate up to a maximum of 30 days.

Also, night shift premiums increase by 15 cents per hour and weekend premiums increase by 10 cents per hour. After ratifying the new contract, members received a two percent wage increase; they'll receive another one percent on July 1, 2018, and an additional two percent on July 1, 2019. Prep cooks, servers and housekeepers will now be paid a market adjustment of 50 cents per hour.

Until now, the facility hasn't had an on-site steward, says Lajeunesse. That's why she, Wiercinski and care aide Crystol Cole agreed to step up and represent their hard-working colleagues as BCNU stewards.

"I haven't taken the training yet," Lajeunesse says, "but I'm looking forward to it. We did a good job during bargaining and got our members a good deal. Now we want to work on our other concerns."

"It's so important to have stewards at every worksite," adds Wiercinski. "Because so much of our lives are spent at work, we really need to have friendly, positive workplaces. And stewards can help make sure everyone's concerns are being heard."

Wiercinski says Ayre Manor and its residents are worth fighting for. "It's a wonderful place to work. I've really grown to love the residents. It's a small community, like a family. Most of them are happy and we want to make sure we keep that going."

It's how Anna would have wanted it. •

UPDATE (July - August 2018)