The B.C. Nurses' Union strongly denies any link between efforts to organize Licensed Practical Nurses and a contract offer from the provincial government.

“The suggestion is untrue,” said Art Moses, spokesperson for the BCNU. Sources who made that suggestion to the Tyee, reported in an earlier Hook item, are “completely inaccurate”, said Moses.

In an e-mail sent on the weekend, he wrote, “The Tyee should know better than to engage in scurrilous speculation about a union with a long history leading the fight for improved living standards for our members and their communities, as well as standing up for quality public health care and social services.”

The BCNU leadership is considering a contract offer from the provincial government. The offer comes a year before the BCNU's current contract expires and at a time when finance minister Colin Hansen has said there's no money for public sector wage increases.

Moses said details of the contract offer will be released later today or tomorrow once they are reviewed by the union leadership. The offer would then go to BCNU members for approval.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.