Debra McPherson is a disgrace to the labour movement..

and should be turfed. What a waste of money! Raiding other unions instead of signing up new members is unconscionable! And at a time when it is really important for labour to stand together. For shame!

...And then there's Maud, uh, Debbie...

I think I see it now. I have wondered if the BCNU had friends in high places, acting with such impunity. But now I think it may be worse. Is it possible that it was the flip side of that nice preemptive deal they got themselves, that they had to go out and sow discord and trouble among the ranks of health care workers? It certainly works, if that was the case. Here we were all worried about next year's contract negotiations (all of us except the nurses, that is), and we imagined the government must be feeling the same way. But if the health care sector can be messed up and in disarray and all solidarity and coherence blown to smitereens, then Gordo and his miniomns have it made. Or at least they may think they have. Never mind this happens on the back of sick and defenseless people. 'Don't get sick in BC' is still a good rule.

I think we should throw the book at the miscreants, and do it quickly.

in cahoots

As long as there is competition about who gets which job to do, there is no way these two professions can be consolidated!
It seem obvious that BCNU has an inside deal going with Gordo, so beware!

I think this article is

I think this article is making the BCNU look like the boogey-person. It's a known fact that HEW has not done a good job in the past with their own members and maybe, just maybe, do you think that there could be some disgruntled LPN's who want to go to another union and BCNU is there with open arms?

Raid

I am a LPN. What BCNU is definitely a Raid. We are being told if we sign associate membership cards then we will be asked to sign full membership cards. I do not want to be a part of BCNU. BCNU has always questioned our professianalism and compentency. They have done their best to hold us back in the workplace. This is a shame at a time when there is a present and growing nursing shortage. A time when we need more nurses of all levels they would hold us back. HEU has won us some great gains in the workplace. We are now being noticed and utilized more than ever before. It looks like the future involves us being utilized even more. That is where everyone gains. It helps health care. It is a movement that should not be stopped. I am doing my best at fighting to be sure BCNU does not succeed at this. BCNU has done anything but show themselves as a professional union. They were at the LPN College AGM which was supposed to be a neutral ground handing out their cards. They had to be asked to leave. They have been in the workplaces disrupting things there. Again they had to be asked to leave. Not asked to leave just once but many times. BCNu should be ashamed as they are not showing themselves as a professional union when they cannot honour the rules. Also there is a growing movement within BCNU of RNs upset with this and asking for a vote of the membership to see if they agree. So I say BCNu take care of your members and leave us alone.

On the face of it, this looks like a raid....

But then, I have some serious problems with the way the CLC and ‘President’ Georgetti have been behaving for quite a while now.

I wonder if ‘President’ Georgetti and a number of other high union officials in this province and this country would care to explain why they have also allied themselves (through their pension plans) with the BC Liberals and the notion that P3s are a great deal for the advancement of the public interest - and the broader interests of all union members.

I'd like to hear the reaction of the ordinary union rank and file to this article of Will Offley's:

http://canadiandimension.com/articles/1968

Because, after reading it, I had a lot of questions I'd like ‘President’ Georgetti and his gang to answer.

I don't think it's just the lazy voter who's responsible for the Campbell hegemony - I think Labour princes have a lot to answer for and I think a dispute between two unions is a lot less interesting than the activities of the guys and gals behind Concert Properties.

Union members need to start asking what's going on in the union boss's office.

Some of the folks involved:

“Throughout its existence, Concert has been completely controlled by the trade union bureaucracy and its current board of directors continues that tradition. Of 17 directors, 12 are current or retired union full-timers: Ken Georgetti (President, Canadian Labour Congress); Jack Allard (retired Secretary-Treasurer, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1518); Nancy Curley (Alternate Business Agent, TWU); Gerry Forcier (Trustee, Pipefitters Local 170 Pension Plan); Dave Haggard (President, IWA-Canada); Leif Hansen (retired Vice-President and Director of Operations, UFCW Local 247); •Rod Hiebert (President, TWU); Don McGill (Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 213); Charles Peck (Chair, Health and Welfare Pension Plan, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 213); David Schaub (National Representative, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union); Randy Smith (President, Carpenters Union Local 1995); Anthony Tennessy (retired President, Operating Engineers Local 115); and Bryan Wall (Consultant, UFCW Pension Plan).” – from the Offley article – written July 2004…

BCNU Raid

Debra McPherson is a disgrace to the labor movement in Canada, and she will be remembered in labour history as such. There are SO many unorganized workers in our Province, millions of dollars that the nurses union has for this raid could be better spent organizing them, making their lives better! I'm surprised that the majority of RN's agree with this dishonest, illegal activity. Doesn't say much for the integrity of the RN's, does it? I remember being appalled whith Debra McPherson saying that LPN's were not as intelligent as nurses, now that seems forgotten! It's not too late to stop this now!

Money makes the (union) world go around . . .

Maybe, it's merely a play for money. BCNU takes a piece of every member's paycheque. For some, that is more than $100 a month.

From Bad does come some Good

One thing about this campaign is BCNU started out talking to a lot of LPNs who were ignorant or naive about how unions, contracts and bargaining works. Throughout this campaign HEU has spent many many hours explaining the process to LPNs. In learning this they have learnt BCNU makes many empty promises. They also have learnt how their union works and what their union does for them. This is good. It has made many LPNs ask a lot of hard questions. Thank you for that part BCNU. No thank you to membership though.

it is about respect stupid!

Whatever investments some unions may have made, has nothing to do with the split that has festered for ages between RN's and LPN's.

Any group of professionals who constantly act as if they alone are knowledgable, should not suddenly try to absorb the very people they have belittled all along!

That does not wash, it smells and LPN's realize it.

If the average RN bothers to think about it is questionable.

Business Union Ideology....

The reality is, though many in the labour union would deny it, that most union leadership subscribe to a "co-operaton with business" model of labour unionism. Don't be fooled by the rehetoric. They accept, work within and wheel 'n deal with the status quo... which is capitalism. Just the same as the NDP does.

And but one of the consequences of that is that each and every union essentially, after all the solidarity lip service is paid, when and as it opportunistically suits, sees itself and acts as a kind of "independent business" that pursues its own essential self-interest... and over all other interests.

Workers should not be forced to buy into this, and should be free to join, create and re-create whatever unions they feel are necessary, forcing professional "management" leaderships to compete. Given unions as they are today.

Though certainly the better model to which I subscribe, in my view, would be a return to the original One Big Union (OBU) of such as Joe Hill and the other early pioneers of the working class movement. This division of the working class into craft and quasi-craft "industial" or "industry" unions foments a comepetetive arrangement and outcome that plays into the bosses interest.Whereas the OBU concept encourages and creates more of a democratic, across the entire working class wide "movement". (Which doesn't still exclude workers in particular sectors coming together tactically as needed.)

Mostly though, the working class needs to be won back to its own anti-capitalist and working class freedom ideology, that has a vision outside and beyond capitalism, leading to a social order where the working class and other intellectual and shared interest class strata, like farm families, rule in their own right. The working class needs to stop identifying its interest with the class and socio-economic system of capitalism. Just like the slaves of old needed to stop identifying with the slave owner, before that system could be overthrown.

Why must we choose?

"a dispute between two unions is a lot less interesting than the activities of the guys and gals behind Concert Properties."

Not if you are a member of one of said unions, particularly the one being raided. BTW, it is not only HEU involved, as also HSA's Psych nurses are in the crosshairs.

Why would taking an interest in the dirt regarding the pension stuff mean we can't take an interest in this? Why would you try to redirect? Georgetti's virtue notwithstanding, the rest of us know when we are being subjected to attempted rape. And that's from the factory floor, and the rank and file, just as you wished for.

"..do you think that there could be some disgruntled LPN's who want to go to another union and BCNU is there with open arms?"

There is no evidence that the intitiative came from 'disgruntled' union members. If any group had been upset with their represntation, there is an orderly process in place for changing unions, which no one has so far made use of in this regard. Following the parallel thinking, you would say that drug peddlers are only plugging into a market that's already there, or else their wares wouldn't move. Put something on offer, and there'll always be takers, as some poeople will try anything once, and there's a new one born every second.

Howl with the wolves you find yourself amongst (Danish proverb)

“..most union leadership subscribe to a "co-operaton with business" model of labour unionism. Don't be fooled by the rehetoric. They accept, work within and wheel 'n deal with the status quo... which is capitalism. Just the same as the NDP does.”

Most union leadership work to obtain the best possible contract they can for their members. Then they work to hold the employer to that contract, and to make sure that difficult-to-interpret sections get clarified in the next contract. Amen. That is the mandate of union leadership.

If you wish to seek political change, you join a political party, or make your own. If you think the NDP is too lame, you go further left, or further innovative, or further radical, whatever. If you want to shake the status quo out of its sockets, you build a new model that makes the old one obsolete. If you want a different economic thingamajig, set up one in your own corner and show that it works. To paraphrase, people will come.

What you don’t do is mess with the mandate you were given by those you represent. You cannot take it and interpret it to your personal preference, or decide that the yokels who elected you don’t know half as well as you do what’s best for them. That’s not representing, that’s co-opting.

So yes, most union leadership works within the status quo, because that’s what they were elected to do. What of it?

That doesn’t mean I endorse those who turn into pampers (yes, they really call them that in Europe!) and help themselves to the resources that rightfully belong to brothers and sisters. In my bailiwick, union reps pay for their own paperclips, and everything up from there.

Butbutbut...

"the OBU concept encourages and creates more of a democratic, across the entire working class wide "movement". (Which doesn't still exclude workers in particular sectors coming together tactically as needed.)"

This article is precisely about some people NOT coming together, but ripping up at each other! How do you square that?

I don't think the division into industries by the way is the doing of the employers, although it may happen to suit some of their interests. I think our natural tendency to form tribes will suffice. I am not saying that we don't have common interests, but not enough for the big, broad movement of which you speak. I cannot see a brotherhood of farmers, urban tradespeople and eggheads, unless we are threatened by an alien invasion or something equally off-scale. Just look at how we bicker in the face of the threat we face from Islamism.

Redirection - not at all....

Not at all.

Just drilling down a little deeper into the 'character' of some of the players who, on the one hand preach 'union solidarity' and on the other play footsie with the CEO.

Who on the one hand decry the subversion of public enterprise and on the other finance the instrument of their own demise.

Who campaign for one party while supporting the other with their ‘profits’.

I'm surprised you didn't figure that out for yourself...one can hardly expect much adherence to a leadership which is, itself, subverting the principles - both democratic and union - it's meant to preserve and advance.

It's not just the relationships at the local level that are topsy-turvy...it's the whole structure.

Teachers and Teacher Assistants

The BCNU nurses could go back to school and learn how respectful the BCTF and CUPE work together.

Maybe they could come up with a similar document "roles and responsibilities" and best define the importance of both jobs when it comes to delivering public services.

Instead of raiding unions they need to concentrate on patient care and find out suitable ways to promote both professions as unique.

The BCNU will soon loose public support if they become the bullies in Health Care. Shame on Deb. Mcpherson.
and the BCNU executive.

I've worked on both sides of

I've worked on both sides of the fence, non-unionized and unionized. Most unions these days are based on corporate models and run by people who often haven't a clue how to manage them b/c they are trade unionists and while they may be smart enough, be good at campaigning and the like, they don't know thing one about managing a corporation.

I've been astonished at the corruption, the lack of transparency about where the union dues have been placed, at the incompetence of unions reps, the complete inadequacy and lack of representation unions can offer their members. I know of cases of likely collusion b/t union and employer to get rid of "problem" employees, often whistle blowers of criminal and ethical misconduct. It's astonishing to see how bad some of this is and how hypo- critical. When some big unions want to raid a cert they do it, then turn around and complain about others doing it.

Surprisingly, with all of the negatives I've seen, I still believe in trade unions, believe in collective solidarity and social justice that is fought for by the movement. None of us would have the wages, hours, benefits & pensions we do without them, whether we're in unions or not. I respect and value the trade unionists and activists who have fought and continue to fight to organize the unorganized.

I think in some ways, unions that are doing succession planning are thinking about how they will full their ranks (pay dues and fill jobs) in the future with so many people due to retire and not enough workers to replace them in the next while. Smart leaders should be thinking about that.

If unions took better care of their members, advocated for and provided better representation, members would have no reason to even consider another union, especially one that is on record for running the same occupational group down.

with respect, alive...

Unions are made for the members and the members vote to decide on issues and leadership.

Not when it comes to the House of Labour. I've gotta side with GWest - in 1999 60,000 in Health Care unions protested the construction of the Millennium line and subsequent cuts to services funding, and were supported by groups as varied as TWU and BCTF, but 10,500 IUOE 115 members overruled that decision in the House of Labour.

And we're still paying $80 million a year for that exercise in union democracy. Thanks for sharing.

Solidarity forever - or only as long as it meets my objectives?

The last poster, bcliberals_suck, has said much of what I would have said, and done it well. I do have a couple of things to add, though.

We should remember that when we talk about mandate, in many unions the people up to and including district or regional representatives are elected directly, while union presidents and/or executive managers or executive directors are either elected by delegates or appointed.

In my view, the leadership is important, but the backbone of a union is the local reps, the ones with connection to the factory floor. If they fail in using their mandate right, and they do have a mandate, there is no union. The top leadership can be co-opted in so many ways and often is, and lose its grounding.

Therefore I have grown a bit cynical over the years and do not place a lot of emphasis on the top in a union. Good leadership is a nice bonus and an inspiration, but if you must do without it, you can, as long as there are able and honest veteran stewards in place throughout the 'locals'.

I would also like to remind of the fact that an effective union rep must know the mindset of the management and speak its language, which is not the same as buying into any of it. Problem employees do exist, but are extremely rare to meet in real life, and it is not the union rep's job to help get rid of them. It has always been a great joy for me to help protect honest folks, including whistleblowers, as they contribute greatly to upholding quality. Some unions do take very good care of their members. But there is always that attraction in being wooed, so it is not a given that members will stick with even a good union if another one brings out what looks like a fistful of goodies. Our blueprint includes a gene for being somewhat susceptible to 'the last honourable speaker'.

unions

Unions are just another company trying to make more money for themselves

The only difference is that people know that companies are "evil and self serving"

Sorry dorothy, I don't buy it

Unions caninvest their pension earnings wherever they damn well please - that's not the point. Invest at arm’s length though.

But when union bosses collude and start creating companies to compete directly in the marketplace that's an entirely different thing - this is not German industrial democracy - it's the subversion of the union movement for profit.

I don't want union bosses on both sides of the negotiation table any more than I want them 'running' political parties.

They should do what they're elected to do represent union interests from the left side of the table - not play footsie with either Gordon Campbell or the guys in the corporate penthouse.

Unions as Corporations...

"Surprisingly, with all of the negatives I've seen, I still believe in trade unions, believe in collective solidarity and social justice that is fought for by the movement. None of us would have the wages, hours, benefits & pensions we do without them, whether we're in unions or not. I respect and value the trade unionists and activists who have fought and continue to fight to organize the unorganized. " wrote bcliberals_suck.

Amen. And I as well.

That said, I still haven't heard anything from those who support the "trade unions as corporations" model, which is the labour status quo, that convinces me. And I spent a great part of my life as an activist in the existing model trade union movement. That said, they are desperately in need of a rank and file led rethink, in terms of their underpinning ideology, and in the context of their too often more formal than real democratic practise and structures.

Fundamentally, they need to return to the ideas of their historical roots, and free their ideas, vision of the future and practises from the corrupt corporate model limitations, that is the present trade union movement. Frankly, the labour movement needs to be re-radicalized... which is not going to come from the current top-down anyway. Which means that what is, trade unions as individual self-serving businesses, is going to go on until there is finally a rank and file revolt from within.

Without this, what is, is the best you are going to get; retreat, betrayal, and ever more compromised adaptation to eternally existing within the ruling class system.

The source of the corruption...

"...and all workers have the legal right to choose which union best represents them."

Or they bloody well should.

Within the existing "business model" trade unionism, for so long as it endures, there is the necessity of the principle that, these unions as quasi individual businesses need to be made to "compete", along with the rest of the private business sector... for the loyalty and support of their workers.

Though, in the final analysis, as I keep saying, this ideology of unions as "quasi-businesses", harms only the working class, and is the application of ruling class ideology to the trade union movement... or what should really be a mass movement.

The ruling ideas of any age are the ideas of its ruling class. (I know that Marx was, at least, one of the early analysts of capitalism to note this fact.) And here we see how that important observation works through and applies even to the unions of the working class. It is the source of their corruption; their assimilation of "business ideology".

Numbers...

Let's see... what does BCNU have to gain?
- A large percentage of their ranks are retiring or about to retire. An aging nursing population. LPN's equal a quick top up. Simple enough.
- LPN's are a cheaper option for healthcare for a cash strapped government. They can replace RN positions. What better way to control these aspects than to place LPN's under BCNU wings.

As for BCNU feeling that what they are doing is right...
- Then why didn't BCNU encourage LPN's to speak with their own union. Are not LPN's qualified enough to discuss their own preferences for representation with their own union. Do they need a $100,000 ad campaign to convince them of their own autonomy?

I've always wondered how the nurses came out with the latest sweet deal contract with the government. No fuss. No muss. In the past, there were strikes (in which HEU workers lost money and struck for RNs whilst RN's worked and got paid for "Essential Service"), weren't there? What was guaranteed behind those closed doors with the BC Liberals? Any laws to be changed?

Be careful BCNU, when you play with the devil, sometimes you get burnt.

As you shout in the woods, so you shall be answered...

“I don't want union bosses on both sides of the negotiation table any more than I want them 'running' political parties.”

In many unions, some of which I am familiar with, ‘union bosses’ are far from alone on their side of the negotiating table. They are accompanied by some elected representatives, regional or district, and even some from the rank and file, directly elected for that purpose.

What gets on the table is also generated by direct input from the rank and file, through local chapter resolutions. There is little discretionary decision power in the face of strong priorities voiced by the membership.

As far as ‘running political parties’, ther used to be places reserved for union reps on the NDP board, but that was done away with by an initiative taken by Carole James, something I do respect her for, as it was the right thing to do.

Gwest, I am not trying to sell you anything, just sharing my own insight and observations. Not all unions are as corrupt and dysfunctional as the ones you describe, and some of the good ones are those currently on the receiving end of BCNU’s transgressions.

I cannot speak to those that have periodically in the past been under mob control, but at least do the homework before you tar all unions with the same brush.

Which is it?

"Frankly, the labour movement needs to be re-radicalized... which is not going to come from the current top-down anyway. Which means that what is, trade unions as individual self-serving businesses, is going to go on until there is finally a rank and file revolt from within."

When and if one hears from the rank and file, it seems most of them don't mind the self-serving business thinking, as long as they're included among the beneficiaries. For crying out loud - trade unions are not hotbeds for social reform, they are interest groups vying for the best possible deal in return for their labors.

Needs to be re-radicalized. Good luck. Maybe radical contribution must come from elsewhere these days. If at all. Maybe we are in search of new model altogether, than the tired old class war thing. Maybe radicals don't look the same today. Maybe just like good husbands, you find them where you least expect it.

Miss aware-beware

Your comment shows one of the things I said in an earlier post. Part of how BCNU approaches the LPNs is that we will belong to a professional union. Seeing your post got edited for personal insults shows how professional BCNU is. I go on for at least a page here citing all the ways BCNU has shown themselves to be professionals by title but not by actions. You do not show me a union to be proud to be a member of. I do not see any comments from HEU members edited here. I have not seen HEU members asked to leave different forums for not abiding by the ground rules set out there. I do not see HEU harassing LPNs in the work place when they trying to work. I could go on and on. Maybe instead of spending all the money trying to recruit us maybe spend it on etiquette lessons.

Unity is Key: LPN + RN =Unity

I am writing to clarify that my previous entry was only edited because I phrased my feeling as an assertion or as an absolute statement. I should have phrased it as a question or a suggestion. For example, I should have written, "It may be possible that certain contributors to this blog are paid ghost writers", and I do apologize for this oversight. As you can see from the responses I got, this was not considered a personal insult but was acknowledged as a compliment or extolment pertaining to the writer, and revealed others who agree with my intuitive feeling.

Ghost writers are everywhere on the internet, and they consistantly use a "formula" in their responses that is recognizable. If you want to control the people then you must either control the food supply for their mouths, or for their minds.
Unity is key in our opposition to current propoganda regarding our public health care system. The BCNU is the only union that is taking this issue seriously, that is enacting the Freedom Of Information Act and has obtained proof of current government's planning to privatize public health systems as was done in Australia. The BCNU is active on all major issues pertinent to the care of all people who use the public health care system. I have not seen any letters to the editor, letters in professional magazines, personal or public advertising, or any coalition atempts being made by any union other than our BCNU.

Lorne Burkart, BCNU, Castlegar, writes in to all our local papers with truthful information for the public to peruse. A quote from his latest excellent letter, "Deliberate plans to under-staff health care facilities put the health and safety of patients and health care workers at risk". This refers to the fact that current government has placed the budget before patient safety by not bringing nurses in to work if it involves incurring overtime.

Establishing a professional association between LPNs and RNs is key, and makes no statement toward the professional status of the HEU or BCNU, and only speaks to the necessity of us joining together under a professional umbrella so we can move forward as nurses and enact the strong trust relationships (that exist on the floors of our hospitals already) in a professional setting that has political clout and influence on current government.WAKE UP CANADA, KirstinO

Miss aware-beware

We can work along side each other tackling the governments agenda to privitize care. Both unions can work on it. In fact HEU is working on it. How much are you spending on the ads etc to gain LPNs in your union? Use that money to fight the LIberal agenda.
HEU has been very loud also about health care. They are not just sitting back watching it happen. Now when we should be fighting that agenda BCNU has played in the governments hands. You have us busy fighting a RAID. We can accomplish much working cooperatively and not need to be under the umbrella of BCNU.
Be honest HEU is doing great in last few years educating government on our under utilized skills and promoting us. LPN numbers in the work place have grown about 50% in the last 5 years. That has BCNU scared. Not sure why because there is a global nursing shortage. Is it because a large number of RNs have based their budgets on overtime?
Will BCNU promote us as well? I think not because to promote the LPN means a loss of a RN job. To both be in one union becomes a conflict of interest. Plain and simple. There are 28,000 (I think) RNs and only 7,000 LPNs (an est. again) so whose interests will get promoted first in BCNU?

Miss aware-beware

I also notice you ignore the comments of BCNU promoters being asked to leave the LPN College AGM. No HEU were asked to leave. You also chose to ignore a defense for campaigning in the work place. Those are both unprofessional acts.

Miss aware-beware

Talk about ghost writers, your input comes straigth from the BCNU promo!

While I agree that you should have similar goals and that some form of co-operation would be beneficial, I must point out that the proper way to achieve that goal would be for the two unions to meet and discuss if some form of a merger might be possible,

Raids are not the answer!

I lived through a raid by AFL-CIO against the unions representing workers at Kitimat, and I recognize the glorious words you spout here, promises and promises.

Once the raid was succesfull I no longer had the machinist union to stand up for my rights, but instead a union that had to "moderate" because they now represented many more people not facing my problems and conditions.

Sorry to tell you that only the part of the employees who were in the majority saw any advantage to that change in unions representation.

I am sure that in this case the LPN's are in the minority and will suffer exactly the same fate should they be tempted by false promises.

LPN + RN=Unity

Of course "raids" are not the answer. However, the actions of the BCNU being considered a "raid" is a foundational assumption that is incorrect. Educating our co-workers and peers about their legal right to self-determination (as to which union they allign with) can hardly be defined as a "raid".
I feel obligated to respond that LPNs are already a minority in the HEU, and in a union that has a vast variety of workers with an equal variety of labour place issues (most revolve around privatization). Has the HEU prevented any privatization so far?

There are 35,000 RNs in the BCNU and being joined by thousands more LPNs will be of benefit to the LPNs and the RNs; it is a symbiotic relationship to stand in opposition to current government's corporate privatization agenda. There are no promises when it comes to political and union actions, and democratic protests that speak for the public interest; if the LPNs "suffer" from joining BCNU it will be because we ALL will have been defeated by the cryptocracy (puppet government). The LPN, the RNs, and the patients will se suffering together, just like we are in the workplace. WAKE UP CANADA! KirstinO

Good luck ... ain't got dick all to do with it. It's timing.

A very interesting exchange between the HEU and BCNU happening here.Though a long time ago, and time really does change everything, both are organizations with which I was very familiar... at one time. It is a discussion that is though, but part of the ferment that needs to go on within the larger working class, and I've changed my mind. I will not interfere with it.

But coming back to this issue of the need to "radicalize" the working class, and the "conventional establishment" view that one will need "good luck" to pull it off. :-)

I beg to differ. It is not a matter of luck at all. Contrary to Ms Dorothy's bent, nothing is ever eternally fixed, and we only have to look back to the last Great Depression and the Great Winnipeg General Strike, which was in fact almost a revolutionary moment throughout capitalism, and indeed, even to the immediate post WW2 in this country, to see the last time the working class was "radicalized" in this country.

Working people take life very seriously. They have to. Though in good times, as occurred in the postwar within capitalism, for a number of complex reasons, having to do with rebuilding Europe, the working class can forget its historical class roots, and even buys into the apparent, if transitory success of capitalism, and takes the opportunity to party, that can quickly in changed times, change very quickly as well. If and as the situation becomes serious enough.

And I suggest, the times are quickly becoming serious enough again. All the elements that it takes, in fact, to re-radicalize the working class are in motion again; circumstances which theaten their well being and that of their families. And you underestimate that capacity or capability that always lurks within the working class mindset at your peril. Or at least at the ruling class's peril.

And I've been here on the sidelines, enjoying life and living it, riding my horses and marvelling at the wild back country, and enjoying the women and children in my life, but also watching for the opportunity to overthrow the capitalist order, for a very long time now. And don't get me wrong: I despise the system, but I also understand history and social development, its complexities and, more or less, how it proceeds by now. If I dont, my life has been a complete misread and failure. Which is also a possibility.

And I ain't that different from the rest of the working class milieu, the sea, within which I exist and swim about.

My powder, nonetheless, is always dry, whilst I party and amuse myself.

Postscript...

We are just at the beginning of the end of the Great Prosperity Period of capitalism. It is going to take some time for folks to wrap their heads around the implications of that, let alone re-orient and re-organize themselves.

It took one hell of a long time to bring down Rome too.

Wake up yourself

“Unity is key in our opposition to current propoganda regarding our public health care system.”

While I can certainly agree to that, I do believe unity is best effected by agreements between equal partners operating on an equal footing, and is best developed over the long term, not, as I said, crammed down people’s throats at the last minute when it becomes obvious we have our backs against the wall. It is too little too late and downright pathetic, and it is certainly not for anyone the scenario in which to be supercilious.

“The BCNU is the only union that is taking this issue seriously, that is enacting the Freedom Of Information Act and has obtained proof of current government's planning to privatize public health systems as was done in Australia. The BCNU is active on all major issues pertinent to the care of all people who use the public health care system.”

Maybe the rest of us don’t need to peep in the cards to know what these people are up to. It has been evident in their general demeanor ever since the lot of them harried Liberal corridors as snot-nosed (this taken in the strictest metaphorical sense – none of them ever asked me for a hankie) youngsters in too-large three-piece suits and sporting demonstrative red ties. I am sure you are active in taking care of the profession, as well as remember your mask and gown every time without fail. But other people do their jobs, too, and do not quite deserve the dismissive tones you fling at them. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

“I have not seen any letters to the editor, letters in professional magazines, personal or public advertising, or any coalition atempts being made by any union other than our BCNU.”

This does not prove that they weren’t there. As you can probably figure, one cannot prove a negative, which is why our judicial system allows people innocence until proven guilty. I know that members of HSA have had letters to the editor published, and that that union has always sought cooperation wherever it goes. But some of its members may not take kindly to a patronizing tone, as will nobody I know.

...more

cont'd

About your characterization of my role here in the blog, the mind boggles. “Ghost writers are everywhere on the internet, and they consistantly use a "formula" in their responses that is recognizable.”

Well in my case you have done the superhuman thing: recognized something that wasn’t here. I am still flattered that you think my writing reaches professional quality, but even though ghost writers are everywhere, one place they aren’t is in my pants. Have you followed the Tyee for some time? Then you must know I don’t run with a pack, as the Coyote so rightly observes.

What the behavior of the BCNU reminds me of is that of Parent Advisory Committees I have known in the past. All too often, they would fight over a dog’s breakfast in the form of some small acquired funding or even try to fundraise within their own ranks in some fanciful manner. I found myself constantly pointing out, that buying bean salads, used books and crocheted blankets off one another is not fundraising. In order to raise funds, you go after OTHER people’s money. Likewise as some previous poster pointed out, you want to bolster your union ranks, you go out and sell the idea of joining up with you to NEW people, rather than raiding those already in a union.

I cannot believe you cannot yourself perceive the condescension of the set of notions you are putting forth: that you need to educate people about their rights! What makes you think they don’t know them? That if your union buckles, it is only because of a general cataclysm, i.e. it is the best and cleverest of all unions. Whether you believe it is raiding or not your union does, it is obviously the perception of those on the receiving end, as well as of those they have put their trust in, and so it was a flop, didn’t sell. How do you square this misjudgment of the marketplace with your superior attitude?

Miss aware-beware

You still do not address how a professional union can act so unprofessionally in trying to sign up LPNs.
We will not benefit from being in your union. I also do not hear any personal individual comments from you the the same recited info I hear from your campaign.

Remember when

My Thoughts

Remember when CUPE unanimously passed a resolution putting the IWA on notice that they would use all resource available to them to stop the IWA from signing yellow dog contracts with private health care multinationals.

And because of BC government Privatization legislation, health care services are being sold off to private companies. What did workers get, half the wages no benefits and to top it off being told to sign an IWA card.

At that time Georgetti told the IWA to clean up its act same as he is now doing with the BCNU. Nothing ever became of it, just hollow talk.

It must be remembered as well that the BCNU met behind closed doors with the BC LIeberals, wonder what the discussions were, pertaining to the HEU LPN associate member sign up. They won't say!
What the BCNU is doing now is not a simple case of raiding, its a much deeper violation of union principles. Looks like getting in bed with the Lieberals to undermine workers rights.

Lets see what the CLC and the BC Fed do this time.

BCNU Membership for LPN's

Some quotes from the BCNU and their leadership:
1996 - "there's no room in the health care system for LPNs anymore"
2004 - Debra McPherson tells a union convention that LPN's can do 70 % of the work that a RN does but the 30% difference in scope of practice between RNs and LPNs was "a gap in intelligence". She then puts it in writing.

I could go on and give more public statements by this union and their elected leadership, but I won't.

Who's interest will they put first the RN's or the LPN's?

It won't be the LPN's as there is only 6000 LPN's amd 2000+ LPN's.

Is this the union that I want to represent me. NO!

CLC Constitution Article 4

CLC Constitution
Article 4 Sec. 5.a and 6. b

5. a. Each affiliate respects the established collective bargaining
relationships of every other affiliate. No affiliate will try to organize or represent employees who have an established bargaining relationship with another affiliate or otherwise seek to disrupt the relationship.

6.b. No affiliate shall agree or collude with an employer or use economic pressure to seek work for its members that is already being done by another affiliate, except with the consent of that affiliate.

In reference to Section 5. a above:

In response to raiding charges filed by HEU and BCGEU, Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, directed Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union, of which BCNU is a member, to “cease all actions in which it is interfering in and seeking to disrupt the established bargaining relationship of other affiliates.”
http://www.alberniportal.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=82

In reference to Section 6. b above:

As far back as July 2004 the BCNU announced that it was collaborating with the Campbell government to transfer LPNs from HEU into their union.
http://www.alberniportal.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=82

I wonder! Can HEU members really trust the BCNU, a union in collusion with the lieberals?

Debra McPherson is a disgrace to the labour movement..

and should be turfed. What a waste of money! Raiding other unions instead of signing up new members is unconscionable! And at a time when it is really important for labour to stand together. For shame!

to BOOTS

No we cannot trust BCNU. We wish they would just quit harassing us.