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Embattled Nurses' Union Set for Leadership Election

Presidential candidates explain how they'd lead BCNU into a new era.

Tom Sandborn 21 Feb 2014TheTyee.ca

Tom Sandborn covers labour and health care beats for The Tyee. He welcomes your feedback and story tips at [email protected].

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Involved in a blood pressure-raising raid in 2012 that angered other unions, the BCNU could see new leadership and new directions in March.

The BC Nurses' Union, long controversial in the B.C. labour movement, is currently preparing for presidential elections that will potentially see new leadership and new directions.

With the election occurring days before the union's contract is set to expire at the end of March, it's clear that bargaining strategy and the contentious legacy of the contract will be the main issues of concern as campaigning gets underway.

Long-serving president Debra McPherson led the BCNU through a tumultuous period involving the successful 2012 raid on other unions representing licensed practical nurses in the province. The raid increased membership by over 7,000 to 40,000, and triggered disciplinary action from the BC Federation of Labour, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.

Running again this election, McPherson faces competition from three candidates. Of the three, one, Michelle Martinson, said she would not endorse further raiding if elected. Another, Gayle Duteil, wholeheartedly supported the raid. The third, Petra St. Pierre, said that decisions about future raids must be made via a membership vote.

In addition to a president, the election will see 12 other members elected to the union's provincial executive committee and 130 members to regional executives. Balloting runs from March 10 to 31, and for the first time includes phone and online voting.

Meet the incumbent

Several requests for an interview with incumbent president McPherson were turned down. However, on the union's election website, McPherson wrote of her pride as a nurse and BCNU member, and of her commitment throughout her career "to excellence in our profession and advocacy for nurses." She has served as BCNU's leader since 2000.

On the website she notes some of her accomplishments, including a designation by the Vancouver Sun as one of B.C.'s Top 100 Women of Influence in 2010. That same year, she also received the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions' Bread and Roses Award for outstanding leadership in healthcare, and earned an executive MBA in health care from the University of British Columbia.

McPherson's objectives in a new term would include advances for nurses in job security and protecting the work of community nurses from contracting out. In addition, she hopes to "build on the strong language we negotiated in the last contract for safe staffing levels for all nurses through negotiation, arbitration and campaigns." She also cites defence of the public health care system and resistance to "harsh employer and government union busting tactics, bullying and harassment" as further goals.

Meet candidate St. Pierre

Petra St. Pierre is one of the candidates vying to replace McPherson. She said that her six years of labour relations work and experience serving as the president of the union that represents employees of BCNU would inform her leadership. A nurse since 1990, St. Pierre most recently worked at Vancouver General Hospital's Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.

In her opinion, key election issues include the increased workload nurses now face in the wake of their last contract -- in which the standard work week was extended by an hour-and-a-half to 37.5 hours a week -- and changes in contracts to what medications are funded under the employee health plan.

"The PharmaCare tie-in [contract language on coverage for medication] is a major financial concern for our members, whereby they are now having to pay for medications that were covered prior to the last collective agreement," St. Pierre said.

"Members tell me that they have lost pharmaceutical coverage under this new contract, and that they are being denied coverage for drugs they need. We have already seen over 2,000 grievances filed about this issue, and the current leadership wants to keep on dealing with problems through the grievance procedure."

In addition, the change in work week was sold to union membership during the last contract negotiations as a trade for new language on arrangements to replace nurses when illness or vacation create a staff shortage at a workplace -- language that has proven unenforceable, St. Pierre said.

"Both these issues need to go back to the bargaining table," she said, adding that BCNU members don't feel heard by current union leadership.

Asked about whether she would consider further raids if elected leader, St. Pierre said the decision would be left to union membership. "That wouldn't be up to me," she said. "In the last raids, one point of concern from many members was that they felt they were not given a voice in deciding."

Meet candidate Martinson

Michelle Martinson is another candidate vying to replace McPherson as president.

A union activist since graduating from Vancouver Island University in 2007 with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Martinson spent significant time advocating for her son, who has special needs. "He was born with autism, and I have spent all of his life fighting for his rights," she said. It gave her intimate insights into how various government agencies operate.

Martinson has served as a worksite shop steward since graduating. She served as the chair of the union's Aboriginal Leadership Circle for four years. She completed an executive MBA in healthcare from UBC in November.

"In my role as a seniors' outreach nurse, I work with the most vulnerable seniors. I do abuse and neglect investigations and provide education and consultation to care facilities. I provide leadership on a daily basis," she said.

The main issues facing BCNU members are workload, staff replacement, contract negotiation, and health and safety concerns, she said.

Asked why she decided to run, Martinson said: "I just feel that it's time for a change. I want to see a union where decisions are made by a team of people that are representing the membership, and that credit is not being given to one person. I don't know how many times I have heard now [that] the union can't lose Debra because we are in a bargaining year. I understand the expertise that she brings to the organization, but I also know the importance of a team approach."

Martinson said her views on raiding have evolved since the issue was last dealt with by BCNU members, and that she would not support future raids. "I do believe strongly that we need to create respectful relationships with the labour movement again, and would ensure that another raid would be not facilitated by myself in the future," she said.

Meet candidate Duteil

Gayle Duteil is the third challenger vying for McPherson's office. She said her past and "extensive" union experience and current front line work may "appeal to some members interested in change."

A critical care nurse for many years, Duteil started her BCNU career as a labour relations officer. She later served five years as the union's executive director of operations. In 2010, she returned to the front line to work in emergency and acute care at a rural hospital.

She said the main election issue is workload. "The last set of negotiations was intended to improve the staffing levels and for a variety of reasons, this has just not developed into reality. The workload of the front line nurse has never been heavier," she said. "The main points of my platform include negotiating reliable safe staffing language, something members can count on, with improved communication to members to support this."

Duteil also advocates for restructuring the union's governing council to save money. Council operations currently take up 14 per cent of the union's budget, she said, in contrast with the 17 per cent of the union budget that goes to handling grievances.

Duteil said she wants to put more resources into the union's regional, steward and membership levels. She is more unreservedly positive about incumbent McPherson than other challengers. "I do believe though that it is time for change and fresh ideas, and I am hearing that from the members as well. Eighteen years is a long time for anyone to be in the same role." (McPherson served an earlier term in the 1990s.)

Duteil is also positive about the union's record of raiding other unions. "I have always supported the inclusion of LPNs into BCNU, and I was personally very involved in the early stages of our campaigns," she said.

"The family of nursing is so strong when we speak of safe patient care and safe staffing as a united nursing union. If elected president, my priority relationship will always be with our members. The members come first."  [Tyee]

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