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BC employees' union blasts BC nurses' union

The president of the union that represents BC’s provincial employees has issued an angry letter telling the leader of the nurses’ union that wants to take over representing the licensed practical nurses who belong to his organization that “Our members are not chattels to be brokered or paid for in a hostile take over bid.”

In a September 14 letter addressed to Debra McPherson, president of the BC Nurses Union, (BCNU) Darryl Walker, president of the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) commented on a meeting he held with McPherson and BCNU staff member Gary Fane on September 10, saying that he was disappointed in the BCNU’s decision to “escalate” its attempts to raid licensed practical nurses represented by BCGEU and the Hospital Employees Union.

Walker told the Tyee in a September 18 phone interview that the BCNU representatives offered his union “compensation” in trade for it agreeing to the transfer of its LPN members to the nurses’ union.

“The offer came out of the blue for us,” Walker said. “It was an overt offer to pay us off.”

McPherson flatly denies Walker’s account of the meeting. In a phone interview with the Tyee on September 18, she underlined that the meeting was held at the invitation of BCGEU, and said she now suspects it was held in order to “position the BCGEU for political purposes.”

“At no time did we offer Darryl Walker money in exchange for his workers. We’re not interested in getting into a ‘he said-she said’ dialogue in the media. We are interested in meeting the real challenges being faced by health care workers,” she said.

Prior to September 10, a well funded BCNU advertising campaign was inviting LPN’s represented by other unions to join the nurses union as “associate members.” The campaign has already led to disciplinary action against the BCNU by the Canadian Labour Congress and the BC Federation of Labour for raiding other affiliated unions.

As reported earlier this month in the Tyee, the BCNU’s national organization, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, has directed the BC union to comply with the CLC’s demand that it withdraw from its raid on affiliates.

On September 11, the BCNU posted a notice on its web site announcing a transition from “associate membership.”

“Membership application forms are in the mail to associate members. Once a majority of LPNs sign the application, BCNU will apply to the BC Labour Relations Board for a vote,” it announced.

“My first response to all this is sadness,” said Walker. “I’ve worked in health care myself since the 70’s and often stood shoulder to shoulder with members and activists from the BCNU. They are fine activists. The BCNU leadership is throwing away so much by this raid. Workers are fighting for our economic lives these days, and the BCNU moves leave me concerned for our movement.”

Tom Sandborn is a Tyee contributing editor focusing on health policy and labour. He welcomes feedback and story tips at [email protected].

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