p8Between the 60s and the 80s, HEU grew rapidly

in numbers and strength, building an unprecedented level of activism across the union.

{ Part two of our three-part series on the history of HEU }

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4 • V O L U M E 3 2 N U M B E R 2 • T H E V O I C E O F T H E H O S P I T A L E M P L O Y E E S ’ U N I O N

A LEGAC Y WORTH PROTECTING

1958 – HEU convention delegates call for a national public health insurance program.

1966 – Federal government passes Medicare legislation.

2014 – Medicare opponents go to B.C. Supreme Court to expand for-profit health care.

Learn more at bchealthcoalition.ca

HEU members fought for Medicare. Now, let’s defend it.

Medicare founder Tommy Douglas

RETURN TOThe Guardian5000 North Fraser WayBurnaby, B.C.V5J 5M3

AGREEMENT NUMBER 40007486

S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 1

FIRST PAGE REPORT

SUMMER/FALL 2014

ON THE LINEHEU members were out in force on several picket lines earlier this summer.

In Abbotsford, Sodexo members took to the street to back their demands for a contract they later ratified, which includes a modest wage hike and no two-tier wages.

Members working for Carecorp Seniors Services at the Inglewood Care Centre in West Vancouver also went public in their efforts to settle a first contract.

And when teachers put up pickets at schools across B.C., HEU members were there to walk in solidarity and support their call for a fair settlement.

C O M M E N T

October 13 to 17 is HEU Charter WeekOn October 13, 1944, the Trades and Labour Congress (predecessor to the Canadian Labour Congress) chartered the Hospital Employees’ Federal Union Local 180 – later known as the Hospital Employees’ Union.

The awarding of the charter to a group of health care workers at Vancouver General Hospital marks the official beginning of the 70-year-long story of the HEU – a story which is still being written by members today.

This fall, HEU locals will be asked to organize a simple celebration to mark the union’s 70 years.

As October 13 falls on Thanksgiving Day this year, locals are being encouraged to organize their event at some point during the week of October 13 to 17 – HEU Charter Week.

And if you are in possession of some old HEU memorabilia – photos of union events, attendance and minute books, or any other items of historical significance – why don’t you share them? Take a photo and post it to Instagram using the

hashtag #HEU70 and be sure

to include a description!

It’s time to put our contracts to work

This is part of the process that makes HEU a democratic union – members bringing forward their experiences from the local level and then collectively deciding the overall direction HEU will take.

And as part of our efforts to evolve democracy within our union, this convention will be hearing back from HEU’s outgoing Provincial Executive about how we can ensure our governing structures and leadership are as representative as possible.

This work was directed by Resolution 75 at the 2012 con-vention with a goal of identifying any changes needed to meet the needs of our diverse membership, in terms of occupation, sector and equity group.

Since then, the P.E. has sought mem-bers’ ideas and feedback through sev-eral ways, including discussion groups, forums and surveys.

Armed with that information, they will bring forward rec-ommendations to this year’s convention aimed at building a more responsive union.

It’s the next step in the ongoing evolution of our union’s 70-year history.

As we celebrate our seven decades of progress this fall, it is timely to consider the changes we may need to make inter-nally, going forward, to ensure we continue to be an effective force for fairness, justice and equality in our workplaces and in our communities.

Bargaining in our public and private sectors has topped the union’s agenda over the last many months.

Now that the vast majority of members in both sectors have achieved new contracts, our focus shifts from the bargaining table to the workplace.

While it may be tempting to think of a contract settlement as an ending to the bargaining process, it’s really just the beginning.

Once a collective agreement has been achieved and ratified, our next task is to put it to work, on the ground, where it counts.

Regardless of what sector you work in, your collective agreement provides you with a solid set of tools to protect and advance workers’ rights in the workplace.

In addition to defining workers’ wages and benefits, our collective agree-ments have the ability to hold employers to account for unfair conduct and unsafe work environments – but only if they are enforced.

Whether it’s a matter of protecting one member’s right to fair treatment or using our collec-tive ability to resolve larger workplace issues, it comes down to using the contract tools we have negotiated to improve our working and caring conditions.

So while bargaining for most HEU members has concluded, we have a lot on our plate if we want to use our contracts to create fairer, healthier, and more democratic workplaces.

As we step into our 29th biennial convention in November, members from every part of the prov-ince will be gathering to set the union’s agenda for the next two years. And like every convention, members will debate key issues and decide HEU’s priorities for local and provincial action.

Now that the vast majority of

HEU members have achieved

new contracts, our focus shifts

from the bargaining table to

the workplace.

BONNIE PEARSON

ON THE COVER: Social Credit cuts to hospital spending, which threatened 1,000 bed closures and 2,500 jobs in 1982, were met with province-wide protest by HEU members, including those (pictured) at Royal Jubilee in Victoria.

It also provides a number of other benefits such as cost-of-living adjustments and access to medi-cal, extended and dental benefits.

Members enrolled in the plan are encouraged to double check the statement issued to you by the pension corporation in either May or June.

It’s important because your pension will be based on your five best years’ salary, multiplied by your total months of pensionable services.

If you worked full-time, the statement should show 12 months’ pensionable service, unless you took unpaid leave, or you switched to part-time for part of the year, or you just joined the plan. But sometimes, computerized payroll systems and rotating schedules can result in inaccurate reporting by your employer.

If you encounter a problem, contact your employer’s payroll department, and if needed, your HEU servicing representative.

Want to know more? Fall 2014 seminar schedule coming soon.

The pension corporation regularly runs seminars that can provide you with information and things to consider when planning for your retirement.

You will receive an email about two upcom-ing seminars: “Your Pension, Your Future” and “Thinking about Retiring.” The email will include topics covered in the seminars and information on how to register. It will also include posters to put up on union bulletin boards for members to view.

For more information, check out this website at <mpp@pensionsbc.ca>.

Municipal Pension Plan provides income for lifeIf you are an HEU member working in the public sector, you are enrolled in the Municipal Pension Plan. Your plan is likely one of the most valuable assets you have, because it guarantees ongoing income support for you and your family when you retire.

#HEU70

hen Associate Chief Justice

Austin Cullen calls his court into ses-

sion on September 8, he will begin to

hear arguments in a case that could fundamentally change the nature of Medicare.

That’s when one of Canada’s most strident critics of Medicare, Dr. Brian Day, will start the next phase in a con-stitutional challenge that attempts to dismantle universal public health care in Canada as we know it.

Day has spent years testing the rules. His clinics – the Cambie Surgeries Corporation and Specialist Referral Clinic – are infamous for unlawfully charging patients for health care ser-vices.

Day hopes to strike down the rules that prevent a U.S.-style system in Canada, where people get to pay pri-vately to jump the queue.

A 2012 B.C. government audit carried out by the Medical Services Commission revealed that Day’s clin-ics have been unlawfully extra-billing patients for publicly insured medical services at his clinics. Auditors also found overlapping claims – evidence that suggests double-dipping for the same service by charging both the patient and the Medical Services Plan.

Day’s case is being called the most significant constitutional challenge in Canadian history. It’s likely to go as far as the Supreme Court of Canada, but what happens in B.C. will be crucial.

That’s why health care advocates will be opposing Day’s arguments for two-tier medicine in the B.C. Supreme

Brian Day versus public health care

Court this fall. Along with union and community partners in the BC Health Coalition (BCHC), HEU has vigorously opposed the encroachment of for-profit clinics and privatized health care.

For all who have fought to protect and strengthen Medicare, the out-come of this case is critical.

“The stakes are huge. Our mem-bers take pride in a system that looks after all of us when we need it,” says Bonnie Pearson, HEU secretary-business manager. “This case could have major implications for HEU members and for all Canadians who rely on an affordable health care system.”

While Day contends that two-tiered health care will improve wait times, other parties in this case, including the pro-vincial government, disagree. Having been granted intervener status, the BCHC will actively participate in the case along with Canadian Doctors for Medicare.

HEU and its national union CUPE – along with other unions – are helping to support the BCHC’s legal costs.

BCHC campaigner Adam Lynes-Ford says a two-tier system lengthens wait times by drawing a limited sup-ply of doctors and other health care professionals away from public health care and into the for-profit system.

“In September, we’ll be in court standing up for Medicare,” says Lynes-Ford. “Because if Day wins his case in B.C. and our health care rules are struck down, it could lead to a

domino effect where similar laws will be struck down across Canada, under-mining our entire universal public health care system.”

Specifically, Day is challenging the laws that prohibit doctors from charging patients extra for services already covered under provincial insurance plans.

He’s also taking aim at B.C.’s ban on duplicate private health insurance,

claiming that these rules vio-late the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Canada’s health care sys-tem needs improvements that are financially responsible and will result in increased quality of care. What we know from countries that have imple-mented two-tier care is it cre-ates enormous administrative

inefficiencies, and without standardized fees for publicly insured procedures, costs skyrocket,” says Dr.Rupinder Brar from Canadian Doctors for Medicare. “We need to focus on innovations that will make our health care system more sustainable and capable of providing health care to everyone in Canada.”

“Protecting fair and equal access to Medicare is critical,” says Pearson. “We have a long history of advocating for changes that will strengthen public health care, not weaken it.”

CAELIE FRAMPTON

Why is Medicare important? • Medicare gives Canadians equal

access to medically necessary health care.

• It’s based on need, not one’s ability to pay, and protects patients from extra-billing and user-fees.

• Canada’s universal public health care system is widely supported by the public as an essential part of our national identity.

What’s wrong with private pay clinics?• Increased inequality: With two-tier

health care, individuals with higher incomes are more likely to benefit while those who can’t afford it have limited access to care.

• Cherry picking: Private clinics are able to make a profit because they choose the healthiest patients and only perform a limited range of high-volume, low-cost procedures.

• Increased wait times: When spe-cialists spend time in a private clinic, that’s time away from their patients in the public system, which increases hospital wait lists and wait times.

Canada’s Federal Court strikes down Ottawa’s cuts to refugee health care • 5

First Nations, environmentalists vow Enbridge pipeline will never be built • 7

Meet newly-elected CLC president Hussan Yussuff • 10

Migrant workers in Quebec organize to protect their rights • 11

Victoria high school teacher describes deteriorating conditions in B.C. classrooms • 12

Eighteen years after opening his

controversial private clinic, the so-called

“Dr. Profit” is using the courts to try to dismantle

Medicare. Doctors and health care unions are

pushing back.

W

BC

HEA

LTH C

OA

LITION

PHO

TOS

A BC Health Coalition booth at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival raised awareness about the court case and drew support from festival attendees.

For all who have

fought to protect

and strengthen

Medicare, the

outcome of this

case is critical.

HEU members are encouraged to become members of the

BC Health Coalition.

Join the “Save Canada’s Medicare System” group on Facebook for

updates on this case.

Municipal Pension Plan provides income for life

S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 3

Choose the tap instead

Bottled water may seem convenient, but here are 10 reasons to use a stainless steel water bottle and choose the tap instead.

• Plastic water bottles are made from petro-leum. The amount of oil used to make a year’s worth of bottles could fill one million cars for a year.

• Bottled water is not safer. Nearly 25,000 chemicals were found lurking in a single bottle of water in a recent German study. The longer the water sits in bottles, the higher the concentration of chemicals.

• It takes three litres of water to produce one litre of plastic bottled water.

• Bottled water companies in Canada use municipal water sources, groundwater and sur-face water. Dasani (owned by Coca-Cola) is filtered municipal tap water, bottled in Brampton, Ont., and Calgary. (Pepsi owns Aquafina, also sourced from municipalities.)

• It takes more than 700 years for plastic to decompose.

• Empty bottles end up as litter (often in the ocean!) or in the landfills, despite being recycla-ble. In 2009 alone, three million plastic bottles ended up in B.C. landfills.

• Municipal tap water is safer, healthier and more regulated than bottled water.

• For example, tap water in Metro Vancouver is tested 30,000 times a year.

• There are over 90 municipalities in Canada that have gone bottled-water free in their facilities.

• In Metro Vancouver, 85 per cent of people choose tap water over bottled water as their main source of drinking water.

nyone who’s been injured knows that accidents can happen in a split second and forever change your life.

Each day, HEU mem-bers are exposed to job

hazards – whether working in the com-munity, residential or acute care. And they frequently make judgement calls to complete an urgent task that could make them vulnerable to injuries.

For example, if a resident who requires a two-person lift falls, a care aide may choose to lift the resident back into bed or into a wheelchair if working short-staffed with nobody readily available to help. Otherwise, the resident would not receive the required care. But the worker also risks discipline for not following safe-ty protocol.

Whether working on the front-line or behind-the-scenes, all HEU members experience safety challeng-es – some are occupation-specific, while others cross all job families – such as workload, violence, slips and falls, musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs), exposure to hospital-acquired ill-nesses, and lack of workplace safety procedures during a Code White or Code Orange [emergency response during mass casualties, earthquakes and fires].

But by law, all workers in B.C. are covered by the Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.

Employers are legally required to provide a safe work environment by assessing and identifying risks, reduc-ing or eliminating any hazards, and educating workers on how to pro-tect themselves. And, in turn, work-ers need to know and enforce their rights. (See WCB Act Division 3, part 115; and OHS Regulation Part 4, sec-tions 4.27–4.31, 4.46–4.53; Part 5 and Part 6).

Under the law, workers have the right to refuse unsafe work. But what exactly is it?

For direct care-pro-viders, a lack (or short-age) of ceiling lifts, slings, slider sheets and sit-to-stand lifts is considered unsafe, as it often results in MSIs. They’re also vulnerable when working alone with violent or aggres-sive patients whose risk assessments are outdated.

Hazards for trades and maintenance workers include: exposure to hazard-ous material such as mercury, asbes-tos, mold, and chemicals poured into sinks; equipment malfunctions; inad-equate “fall protection” safety equip-ment; and improper safety lockup for electrical or heavy equipment.

Support workers get exposed to chemicals and risk MSIs from having faulty equipment (such as wobbly wheels on carts) or missing supplies

(“wet floor” caution signs, fatigue mats) and lifting or pushing heavy items such as laundry or garbage bags.

Poor ergonomics cause clerical staff to experience carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive strain from keyboard-ing and mousing, and computer eye strain. Sometimes, they’re exposed to car exhaust fumes, mold and dust in badly ventilated basement offices.

And risks for patient care tech-nical members include: ergonomic

challenges from work-ing in cramped quar-ters; needlestick injuries; exposure to bodily fluids, latex and bio-hazardous products; and chemical hazards like chemother-apy drugs.

It’s imperative for health care workers to receive proper OH&S training and use the tools available to protect

themselves.If there’s a reasonable belief that

a task may cause “undue hazard” to you or somebody else, it’s your legal responsibility to refuse to perform that unsafe duty.

If you’re in that situation, you must contact your supervisor and local OH&S steward or shop steward. And WorkSafeBC is available 24/7 at: 1-866-922-4357 (during office hours) or 1-888-621-7233 (after hours).

BRENDA WHITEHALL

A

HEU welcomes back Sunridge Place members

UK saves millions cancelling P3 hospital dealPerhaps B.C.’s Ministry of Health should take a lesson from Britain about how to start getting rid of costly public-private partnerships (P3s) in health care.

For the first time since Britain’s public health system began using P3s (called Private Finance Initiatives in Britain) to build new hospitals, one health authority has managed to free itself from the staggering, long-term debt load that comes with using pri-vate financing for public projects.

The Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, which used the

P3 model to build Hexham General Hospital 10 years ago, has borrowed the Canadian equivalent of $209 million from a county council to buy out the pri-vate contract over a 25-year period.

Even with interest, the deal will save about $122 mil-lion in the long run, or $6.4 million annually, which will be ploughed back in to public health services.

Northumberland County Council deputy leader Dave Ledger is on record as saying the deal was good

value for local residents because it would “reduce overall bor-rowing costs and release resources to support front-line health and social care

services across the county.”The same Trust has now

secured a second 25-year loan from the Northumberland

Council to build a new hospital for Berwick-upon-Tweed with-

out using the P3 model.A decade ago, the B.C. govern-

ment adopted the controversial British public-private model as a

way to finance new hospital projects here, despite warnings that health

It’s imperative for

health care workers

to receive proper

OH&S training

and use the tools

available to protect

themselves.

Confronting workplace hazards

In a decisive vote conducted on August 5, workers at Sunridge Place in Duncan have again made HEU their union of choice.

Workers at the long-term care facility lost their HEU membership in early June after Sunridge Place was sold to a new private owner, Park

Place, who in turn sub-contracted the facility’s care and support ser-vices to another private company, Care Corp.

Many of the original Sunridge staff, who were subsequently rehired at lower wages, along with newly-hired employees, stood up to employer

intimidation and exercised their legal right to union representation.

Three union supporters fired dur-ing the organizing drive were rein-stated with back pay after HEU filed a complaint at B.C.’s Labour Relations Board.

4 G U A R D I A N • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4

ou may have missed it.In a flurry of superior

court decisions that over-turned several major ini-tiatives of Prime Minister Harper’s government at the beginning of summer,

one of the most significant legal rul-ings against Ottawa restored cuts to public health care for tens of thou-sands of refugees.

In early July, Canada’s Federal Court, the third highest court in the land, struck down Ottawa’s cuts to health care that axed a significant portion of refugee health coverage starting in July 2012.

After the legislation came into effect, surveys by refugee advocacy groups found that up to three-quar-ters of walk-in clinics and most obste-tricians, family doctors and midwives were demanding payment up front from refugees seeking health care – fees that few could afford.

Facing these financial barriers, refu-gees have been forced to turn to hospi-tal emergency rooms for help, putting more strain on already over-crowded acute care facilities. Moreover, say health experts, they also delayed seek-

One of Vancouver’s groundbreaking clinics to offer a multi-disciplinary service model risks losing critical programs if the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) follows through with its plan to cut funding and transfer some patient services this October.

Mid-Main Community Health Centre delivers comprehensive medi-cal and dental services to residents and families in the Little Mountain district of Vancouver’s east side.

The team-based, non-profit soci-ety, which provides “house calls” and extended clinic hours, is widely known for its proactive approach to preventative health – keeping patients with complex or chronic illnesses, and

ing treatment which resulted in more complicated health – and more costly – care outcomes.

For Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care spokesperson Dr. Philip Berger, these cuts have been devastating for refugees – particularly pregnant mothers and children who he says were picked on and bullied by the ruling Conservative government. The Federal Court agrees.

In her ruling, Justice Anne Mactavish wrote that the “2012 modifications to the Interim Federal Health Program potentially jeopar-dize the health, the safety and indeed the very lives of these innocent and vulnerable children in a manner that shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency.”

According to Berger who is the medical director at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital’s inner city health program, “The judge refuted every single point made by the federal Conservative government, including the suggestion that refugee claim-ants are getting superior care than Canadians.”

According to the ruling, the federal government must restore health care

frail seniors, out of acute care hospi-tals – by delivering inter-professional treatments at home or at the clinic.

Along with funding cuts, the VCHA plans to close a handful of other clinics and transfer Mid-Main’s “high-needs” patients to Raven Song, a neighbour-ing community health centre.

“Mid-Main patients do not want to be transferred to Raven Song if they are in a health crisis,” says health advo-cate and Mid-Main patient Marcy Cohen. “They want to continue to be supported at Mid-Main by the doctor and staff they already know and have a positive relationship with.”

Rather than downgrading Mid-Main’s services, which includes a nurse practitioner, pharmacist and

coverage within four months. But this is not the end of the story.

The federal government imme-diately moved to appeal the judge-ment and have asked that Justice Mactavish’s order be set aside, while the matter is before the courts. The Conservative government has until the end of October to submit their appeal.

support staff, supporters say the inno-vative clinic should be used as a pro-vincial model. The centre, they say, should set the bar for similar clinics in other communities and pave the way for more Mid-Mains, not fewer.

As a result of these cuts, Mid-Main could be forced to revert to a physician’s “fee-for-service” funding model, something they had abolished years ago when they shifted to salaried doctors.

“A shift back to fee-for-service would lead to shorter visits – 10 min-utes per patient – end Mid-Main’s current team-based model, and undermine the clinic’s ability to pro-vide preventative and holistic care,” adds Cohen. “These cuts go against

authorities would be locked into 30-year deals that would cost taxpay-ers millions more in the long run.

In the Fraser Health Authority, for example, the P3 model was used to build Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Center, the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgical Centre, and the redevelopment project at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

In a recent review of FHA’s opera-tions, HEU told the health authority, “we continue to be concerned about the financial burden placed on FHA (and other health authorities) by their forced participation in public-private partnership projects.”

For these three projects alone, annual payments will amount to more than $60 million in the current fiscal year and rise to nearly $85 million in 2018.

“Going forward, FHA will pay out an estimated total of $2.7 billion to these private partners,” stated HEU in a written submission. “This represents a significant, long-term and fixed operating cost over which FHA has very little flexibility in terms of capital refinancing or adjusting the level or nature of non-clinical services.”

Under the P3 model, health authori-ties are tied to a fixed 30-year sched-ule and must pay millions of dollars in

service payments out of their operat-ing funds every year.

Seattle adopts highest minimum wage in U.S. In recent years, several North American cities have initiated grass-roots anti-poverty campaigns in response to mounting evidence on the negative impact of low-wages on families, child development, and com-munities.

That’s why workers in Seattle, Washington celebrated Mayor Ed Murray’s announcement this spring to introduce new minimum wage laws.

After assembling the Income

Inequality Advisory Committee – com-prised of non-profit agencies, busi-ness and labour – Murray presented city council with the committee’s recommendations to standardize and raise minimum wages.

The proposal considered the costs of health care benefits with wages – not unlike B.C.’s living wage calcula-tions – and a phase-in plan to lessen the impact on small employers.

Small businesses (up to 500 employees) will reach the city’s new $15 an hour minimum wage over the next seven years, beginning with increases in April 2015.

Employers with more than 500

Y

In the meantime, federal NDP MP and health critic Libby Davies says refugees will continue to suffer.

“The original denial of healthcare access for vulnerable refugees was heartless and mean,” says Davies. “But by choosing to ignore the court’s recent decision, the Conservative government is making a bad situation even worse – and putting more lives in danger.”

the government’s own stated priori-ties of the importance of supporting people in community-based services rather than in acute care.”

Founded 20 years ago, Mid-Main now treats about 6,000 medical patients and 18,000 dental clients each year, even providing subsidy for those with inadequate insurance or low incomes. Their doctors and dentists are also on call 24/7 for emergency services.

Mid-Main patients have launched an online fightback campaign to maintain funding for the clinic’s model of care. For more informa-tion and to sign on to support this campaign, visit <http://supportmid-main.ca/>.

Federal court restores refugee health care

Patients, supporters fight to save groundbreaking clinic

continued on page 6

The Harper government’s cuts to refugee health care have drawn fire from advocates and supporters across the country.

CA

ELIE FRA

MPTO

N PH

OTO

S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 5

an impact.Perhaps you’ve seen the “fairness works”

commercials that ran on TV last fall and again earlier this spring? Or the ads posted on some city bus shelters?

They’re all part of a massive public awareness project about the value of unions, not only to union members, but to the entire community.

We’ve been actively participating in this campaign, along with our sisters and brothers in CUPE National and many other unions across Canada. Our collective goal is to counteract the anti-union forces who are trying to weaken labour’s ability to defend and advance workers’ rights.

According to the CLC’s polling, the ads themselves are working. They’re reminding people that unions make life better and fairer for everyone.

But it takes more than a successful ad campaign to mount an effective fight back.

It takes reaching out to union members, and potential new members, who can be just as influenced by anti-union propagandists as the general public.

In HEU, that means reaching out to all our members and becoming more inclusive. This is particularly important for new members and younger mem-bers who are the future workforce in health care and community social ser-vices. And just as importantly, they are the future of our union.

It’s a big job. It means working together at the local level, talking with one another, and making room for new members – many who may not know how our union works or how to become involved.

As CLC’s research shows, when union members have an honest conversa-tion with each other about what they get from having a union at work, they reach the same conclusion. They see the value of belonging to a union and they realize how much worse off they would be without a union.

Make no mistake about it, there is a determined business lobby with deep ties to Conservative politicians who want a workforce with fewer rights, lower wages, and no ability to stand up for fairness in the workplace.

The only thing standing in their way is the union movement. Our 70-year history, which we are celebrating this year, is living proof of

how much we can achieve when we work together and stick together to build and defend our rights.

So let’s make it a point to start talking with one another about why unions matter. Conversation by conversation it is possible to make sure that every HEU member understands just how much union representation and a union contract contributes to their health, income, safety and security.

The ability to join a union is a legacy passed on to us. And it’s one we can’t afford to take for granted.

P R E S I D E N T ’ S D E S K

VICTOR ELKINS

Fairness worksDuring June’s regional meetings, I was pleased to report that the “Together, FAIRNESS WORKS” campaign, organized by the Canadian Labour Congress, is making

hen we talk about government, we

tend to think pro-vincially and feder-

ally before we think locally. But in so

many ways our daily lives are most affected by municipal governments.

They are responsible for everything from safe drinking water, garbage and sanitation, libraries, parks and green spaces to transportation, schools, fire departments, policing, recreation cen-tres, community centres and so much more.

They are our first line of defense in protecting the public services that make our neighbourhoods and communities liveable. And they have the power to lobby provincial and federal governments on issues that are technically outside their jurisdiction, but impact the lives of their citizens.

One of the most recent, high profile examples is the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, where a number of municipalities have taken a strong stand against it, based on how it will impact quality of life at the local level and climate change on a global level.

Local governments also have the abil-ity to deal with important social issues like poverty reduction, endorsing a liv-ing wage, environmental sustainability, and supportive housing. Depending on what kind of a vision they have for the future of their municipality, they can make decisions that literally shape our towns and cities for years to come.

So it matters to every one of us who we elect on November 15 as our next councillors, mayors, school trustees and parks board members.

That’s why I urge all HEU members to put the November election on their radar and look for ways to support progressive, local candidates.

Those who are elected will make vital decisions that can either strengthen our local communities and economies, or weaken them. They will determine whether or not to sell off – or contract out – certain public services to private companies.

And they will decide important questions about both the affordabil-ity and accessibility of community services.

Along with our sis-ters and brothers in other unions across the province, we can make a significant impact on who gets elected.

To that end, HEU’s Political Advisory Committee (PAC) is currently connect-ing with CUPE BC to assess how we can work together to mobilize a strong turnout among our memberships.

In addition, sev-eral HEU activists are

working with their local labour coun-cils to identify progressive candidates in their communities who are running for office.

By the time you read this Guardian, summer will be drawing to a close. It’s a perfect time to make a commit-ment to finding out more about the fall campaigns shaping up in your municipality.

Even though most of us are busy with work and family responsibilities, taking even a small amount of time to get involved and galvanize support for strong local candidates can make a big difference.

If you want to know more, email <politicalaction@heu.org>.

Support your local progressive candidates

The ability to join a union is

a legacy passed on to us.

And it’s one we can’t afford

to take for granted.

W

employees (including those in national chains) have a three-year implementation period, or four years if com-pensation packages include health benefits.

Seattle City Council voted unanimously to pass the legislation, which sparked a backlash from local busi-nesses. Under the moniker Forward Seattle, business owners launched a petition campaign to bring the con-troversial minimum wage law to a referendum during this November’s election.

But on July 23, Forward

Seattle declared defeat when it was unable to gath-er enough signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

The International Franchise Association – a group of business stake-holders – has filed a dis-crimination lawsuit in a Seattle court, citing inequi-ties in applying the new legislation and its potential impact on small business owners.

Currently, Washington state’s minimum wage is $9.32 an hour.

HEU wins awards In May, HEU received two national awards – Best Overall Print Publication and Best Poster – during a cere-mony hosted by the Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM) in Montreal.

HEU’s flagship newsmaga-zine the Guardian received the top award for the third time in the last five years.

In announcing the award, the presenter issued the fol-lowing judge’s statement:

“HEU’s Guardian stands out first and foremost for the caliber of writing in its

pages and a clean, cohesive design...

“The Guardian manages to be both self-reflective and outward look-ing, and the topics covered demonstrate an attention to community engagement and a commitment to advancing the interests of workers as a whole, locally and interna-tionally.”

The second accolade was awarded for the union’s origi-

nal poster marking the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Ending Violence Against Women, produced by HEU’s in-house graphic designer Elaine Happer.

The judge noted the poster was “direct and bold”and showed “the harsh realities and violence women face everyday.”

CALM is a nationwide orga-nization supporting the work of labour communicators and union activists since 1976.

Donisa Bernardo HEU Financial Secretary

continued from page 5

6 G U A R D I A N • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4

n June 1, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave Enbridge the go ahead to build its controver-sial Northern Gateway twin pipeline along a 1,200 kilometer route

that would transport bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to Kitimat, B.C.

The announcement came with no fanfare, no photo op, and no com-ment from the man who had blatantly backed big oil from the start, dismiss-ing First Nations’ opposition, relaxing environmental standards and demon-izing environmentalists in the process.

From the outset, resistance to Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline was about two things: respecting First Nations’ authority over their lands and pro-tecting the environment.

It was a powerful combination. Over time it created a tidal wave of opposition to the Enbridge project led by First Nations, which swept in municipal governments, scientists, environmental and community orga-nizations, politi-cians, and concerned citizens of every stripe.

Of the more than 10,000 submissions to the National Energy Board’s joint review panel, which was charged with deciding whether or not to recommend project approval, 98 percent opposed the pipeline.

Even in Kitimat, the only town that stood to benefit at all from jobs associated with the pipeline, citizens voted more than 58 per cent against the project. Observers at the time noted the result would have been even higher if members of the Haisla First Nation village (a few kilometers outside the town bound-ary) would have been allowed a vote.

And while Enbridge tried hard to suggest it had some First Nations sup-port, that assertion didn’t hold up to the fact that over 130 First Nations had signed on to a declaration reject-ing the pipeline and tankers project.

So in the wake of Harper’s low-key announcement, it was no surprise that a crescendo of voices responded by vowing the pipeline would never be built.

What did come as a surprise, however, was the Supreme Court of Canada’s unanimous decision nine days later granting Aboriginal title

to the Tsilhqot’in Nation. It was the first time in Canada that Aboriginal title had been grant-ed to a specific tract of land. And among other things, it spelled out that econom-ic development on land where title is established needs the con-sent of the First Nation.

It also defined Aboriginal title as existing not only for the present generation but for future genera-tions.

The decision was heralded as a game changer.

Gitxsan HEU member Raechelle Wilson (whose Gitxsan name Xsim

Gan O’otsinx means house of shadows) is a matriarch of the House of NiiGyep in the Wolf clan.

She was elated by the decision say-ing, “This proves we have a say over our lands, we have the right to manage our lands in the best way we can, and the responsibility to keep them sustain-able for our future

unborn children.”Wilson says the announcement also

brought back memories from her younger years when the Gitxsan joined forces with their Wet’suwet’en neigh-bours in 1984 to pur-sue a major 13-year court battle for land ownership and self-government.

It ended with the historic 1995 Supreme Court of Canada Delgamuukw decision, which set a new precedent for proving aboriginal title and legitimized oral history tes-timony.

But it did not stop continued resource extraction and development in Gitxsan territories.

“There are many companies – trans-

portation companies, logging trucks, CN rail, cutting across our territories. Now, if they want to do this today, we have a say. They can no longer just run through our lands like they used to. That is a victory,” says Wilson.

As to her opposition to the pipe-line and tankers that would go through Gitxsan land, Wilson says, “If Enbridge was to come in, it would destroy our livelihood. It would destroy our traditional hunting and fishing grounds, our wild salmon, our medicinal plants, our clean water, …all the things we need to live. We don’t own the land, we are caretakers of the land. We have to keep things pristine for the future.”

It was that same concern that prompted Wilson to work with the Skeena Watershed Coalition where aboriginal and non-aboriginal people are working to stop the threat of coal-

bed methane gas drilling in the area.

“We have to stand up for our rights,” says Wilson. “These big companies want to come in and deal with us, but they don’t realize devel-opment must be done in a way that keeps our territo-ries pristine. They

have to understand, it’s not only about the money, it’s about the future.”

On July 10, Gitxsan hereditary chiefs served notice to CN Rail, log-ging companies and sport fisher-men to leave their territory along the Skeena River.

Within the next few days, eight First Nations from Haida Gwaii to Yinka Dene territory west of Prince George – including the Gitxsan – had launched court challenges against the federal government’s approval of Northern Gateway.

Nine other challenges were filed earlier this year, all of which have the potential to block Enbridge’s pipelines and tankers project.

PATTY GIBSON

O

Northern Gateway pipeline go ahead sparks tidal wave of court challenges “If Enbridge has poked the hornet’s nest of aboriginal unrest, then the federal Conservatives, Stephen Harper’s government, has spent the last few years whacking it like a pinata…the Harper government’s role in this debacle will not be forgotten.” Eden Robinson, Canadian novelist (rabble.ca)

WHERE DOES HEU STAND?

1990 HEU supports land claims negotiations with the First Nations of B.C. and supports the concept of aboriginal title.

1998 HEU supports the position that referendum is not required to settle First Nations’ land claims, but that these are fundamental human rights issues.

2010 Delegates direct HEU to lobby the Provincial and Federal gov-ernments to stop the development of the proposed Enbridge pipeline.

2010 Delegates direct HEU to lobby the Provincial and Federal governments to make permanent the moratorium on coalbed methane gas drilling in the Sacred Headwaters.

CA

ELIE FRA

MPTO

N PH

OTO

Thousands of people turned up to a night time demonstration to voice their opposition to the Enbridge pipeline during the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel hearings held in Vancouver.

From the outset,

resistance to Enbridge’s

proposed Northern

Gateway pipeline was

about two things:

respecting First Nations’

authority over their

lands and protecting the

environment.

“We have the right to

manage our lands in

the best way we can,

and the responsibility to

keep them sustainable

for our future unborn

children.”

S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 7

DDuring the next chapter of HEU’s history, Queen Elizabeth II was our nation’s monarch, the Maple Leaf became our new national flag, and Canadians elected five prime ministers: John Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney.

It was an era dominated by anti-war protests, wage controls, free trade, and the race to space.

And while our American neighbours were embroiled in the civil rights movement, Canadians fought for and won Medicare and other social pro-grams that endure to this day.

It was a time of tremendous change, and HEU was evolving with it to become the province’s biggest health care union.

THE RADICAL 60sAs a social justice union, HEU activists took to the

streets with fellow Canadians in peaceful demonstra-tions against the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and Apartheid.

And from its earliest years, HEU was a leader in advocating for universal health care – not just for workers, but for all citizens. They lobbied govern-ment, bargained employer-paid medical insurance, and participated in rallies to generate public support.

That groundswell of activism spread from coast-to-coast as Canadians called for health care to be rec-ognized as a fundamental human right. And nowhere was that movement stronger than in the modest prairie province of Saskatchewan, the home of politi-cal leader Tommy Douglas.

For decades, Douglas had a dream – that all Canadians be cov-ered by a publicly delivered, com-prehensive health plan. Medicare – Canada’s univer-sal health care system – finally became the law of the land in

1966 with the passage of the Medical Care Act, which went into effect nationwide in 1968.

By then, health insurance and hospital funding were administered cooperatively by the provincial and federal governments. With secure hospital fund-ing in place, HEU was in a stronger position to bar-gain contract improvements.

Like Tommy Douglas, HEU’s earliest leaders had a dream – to negotiate one collective agreement to protect the rights of all its members, regardless of gender or geographic location, by standardizing working conditions, wages and benefits.

That dream was finally realized with the Provincial Master Agreement (1968-1969), which covered members working in 63 unionized B.C. hospitals.

THE TURBULENT 70sThe 1970s was a rollercoaster ride for public

sector unions, who were tossed back and forth between victories and setbacks. These peaks and valleys had a huge impact on HEU.

Not only was the union pushing back on legisla-tion that affected wages and collective bargaining rights, but they also had internal struggles.

A mass exodus of senior HEU activists and offi-cials – mainly due to retirements and illness – left the new leadership with an equally new staff to carry out the work of a growing and increasingly complex union.

Determined and resilient, HEU fast-tracked its learning curve and came out swinging against Socred health minister Ralph Loffmark’s attack on health care – cutting hospital services and jobs, while freezing and slashing wages.

The union launched a successful fight-back campaign – which included unprec-edented meetings with B.C. Premier W.A.C. Bennett, Prime Minister Trudeau and former Prime Minister Diefenbaker – that resulted in a renewed master agreement with improvements like a shorter work-week (37.5 hours) and modest wage increases.

Growth and consolidation The decades-long shift to a national medical

plan – with the passage of the Hospital Insurance Act (1949), the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act (1957) and the Medical Care Act (1966) – combined with shared provincial and federal financing, created a health care model that required tremendous hospital expansion and the need to recruit staff for these new facilities.

As the union’s membership grew, HEU opened regional offices in Kelowna and Prince George to better serve members.

By 1971, HEU represented workers at 69 facilities – mostly acute care hospitals – but the long-term care (LTC) sector was largely unorganized. And it showed. The conditions, especially in privately operated facilities, were deplorable for both residents and workers.

At HEU’s 1974 conven-tion, delegates resolved to orga-nize the LTC sec-tor, and for the next decade, the union launched its biggest and most success-ful organiz-ing drives. Lead campaign organizer Sharon Yandle recalls, “[HEU] had tried off and on in the 1950s and 1960s. The union had been able to sign up a majority, to get certified in a number of places, but it hadn’t been able to get the first collective agreement.”

Private employers were brutal. Striking workers were often replaced by “scabs”. And workers were usually intimidated

Gaining STRENGTH, organizing the unorganizedWHILE HEU’S EARLY YEARS had laid the foundation for B.C.’s first major health care union, the following decades saw unprecedented activism and rapid growth as thousands of unorganized health care workers discovered new rights and a collective voice in HEU.

In 1974, convention

delegates resolved

to organize the LTC

sector, and for the

next decade, the union

launched its biggest

and most successful

organizing drives.

into settling for substandard contracts, or lose their jobs.But that began to change under Dave Barrett’s

1972-1975 NDP government, who revised the B.C. Labour Code, making it easier for unions to certify and secure first contracts through mediation. It gave workers hope that they would finally be able to nego-tiate fair contracts.

By 1974, HEU had organized 94 per cent of health care workers in B.C.

But the union came under renewed attack when the anti-union Socreds returned to power in 1975.

HEU’s first provincial strikeDuring the 1970s, a national wage and price con-

trol mandate filtered down to the provincial level, and the newly elected Socred government refused to pay wage increases in a contract that HEU members had just ratified under an NDP government. That led to HEU’s first provincial strike in April 1976 that lasted for three weeks.

“The 1976 hospital strike was the first strike of its kind in Canada...controlled by essential service legis-lation,” said Jack Gerow, secretary-business manager at the time.

HEU members were ordered back to work by Allan Williams, the Socred’s labour minister, who introduced Bill 75 – the Hospital Services Collective Agreement Act. That legislation contained a silver lin-ing for HEU, as it legalized provisions recommended by mediator D.R. Blair in settling the current con-tract, which government and employers had refused to honour.

The celebration was short-lived, however, when the federal Anti-Inflation Board vetoed provincial jurisdiction on the grounds of a national economic crisis. Prime Minister Trudeau’s edict to control and roll back wages and benefits meant that HEU mem-bers took an eight per cent hit – and even had to pay back wage increases they had received prior to the federal directive.

By 1977, the union’s membership had ballooned to 18,500 workers in 113 acute care facilities. HEU also organized 21 private hospitals, and secured a first contract for 350 Lower Mainland workers through arbitration, which gave members a wage increase, sick leave and medical benefits.

“The overwhelming reason that these workers sought to join the union ultimately didn’t have anything to do with wages,” said Yandle. “It had to do with the conditions of patient care, and it had to do with the sense of unfairness. And that sense of unfairness is what motivates people to join unions.”

In response to HEU’s grassroots organizing and public campaign to raise awareness about substan-dard private care, the B.C. government introduced a universal LTC program in 1978 to standardize care and wages.

After a series of arbitrated first contracts failed to meet the needs of the union and LTC employers, the parties agreed to create the Long-Term Care Standard Agreement – referred to as the “mini-master” – to be used as a framework for new certifications.

Despite the Provincial Master Agreement being the baseline for the “mini-master”, HEU’s LTC work-ers still earned five per cent less than their acute care counterparts.

Although government policies continued to be used as leverage by B.C. health employers against frontline workers, HEU made bargaining gains at the end of this turbulent decade when an arbitra-tor ruled in favour of wage and benefits compara-bility between health care workers and provincial government employees.

Pay equity and human rightsBy 1970, HEU had embraced the fight to end gen-

der-based wage discrimination, and filed a successful human rights complaint, winning substantial wage increases for 10 female radiology attendants at VGH.

A 1973 complaint, filed on behalf of practical nurses in Kimberley, yielded similar results, which led to a major equal pay campaign. More than 600 human rights cases were filed by HEU members.

Finally, the BC NDP government of the day nego-tiated an agreement with HEU that saw 8,400 of its members receive “anti-discrimination” pay adjust-ments.

Though prog-ress continued to be made through the job review process in the 1980s, women were still concentrated in the lowest-paid occu-pations. And, in a female-dominated sector, both men and women were under-paid in comparison to other industries.

That’s why the union put “pay equity” at the top of its bargaining agenda.

THE REACTIONARY 80sThe decade began with a hostile Socred govern-

ment, who came to the 1982 bargaining table with a long list of concessions. HEU opted for binding arbitration – to protect benefits – in the face of a two-year wage freeze imposed by government.

In protest, HEU organized a multi-union, provin-cial Alliance to Save Health Care campaign – raising public awareness about hospital bed closures, wait-lists, layoffs and unsafe workloads.

On July 7, 1983, more than 50,000 people pro-tested on the streets of Vancouver after the Social Credit government delivered a budget speech that threatened public sector jobs, wages and services.

Premier Bill Bennett introduced more than 25 bills – under his “restraint program” – to strip away hard-earned tenants’, labour and human rights; restrict collective bargaining, and reduce education, social services and health care funding.

This led to the biggest push back any B.C. govern-

ment had encountered – more than 500,000 work-ers under the moniker Operation Solidarity – were joined by the Women Against the Budget coalition, the Lower Mainland Budget Coalition comprised of trade unions and community organizations, and the Solidarity Coalition of human rights’ activists.

Massive rallies and sit-in protests took place across the province. Yet, Premier Bennett dismissed demon-strators as “special interest groups [trying to] picket their way to prosperity.”

After enormous public sector pressure, Bennett withdrew some of the anti-union bills, which restored job security, collective bargaining and seniority rights, and also killed legislation to allow direct-patient billing by doctors, therefore protect-ing Medicare.

“The Socreds’ big lie has to be exposed,” said HEU’s secretary-business manager Jack Gerow at an

August 10, 1983 rally in Vancouver. “This budget has nothing to do with restraint. It is an ideological attack on certain groups in society and that is what has to be made clear. The only thing the Socreds are trying to restrain are people’s basic rights.”

For most of the decade, collective bar-

gaining was described as “one step forward, one step back” – as arbitrators would award contract improve-ments, only to be overruled by the government.

Organizing seniors’ careBy 1983, about 70 per cent of the LTC sector had

been organized by HEU, including 77 residential care facilities.

In 1985, more than 650 HEU members – working in 14 LTC sites – went on a 45-day strike to protest against the inferior working and caring conditions in the private sector, and to demand comparability with workers under the master agreement.

It’s a fight that continues today.HEU survived – and thrived – during these tur-

bulent decades. But in the next chapter, the union would encounter another rocky road, mired by gov-ernment interference in collective bargaining, con-tract-shredding, and fightback campaigns against contracting out.

Primary source: The Heart of Health Care by Patricia G. Webb

BRENDA WHITEHALL

Gaining STRENGTH, organizing the unorganized

’60s-’80s

HISTORY SERIES

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES’ UNION

part 2 of 3

My intention is to build a more

inclusive and proactive

movement.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS ABOUT ISSUES AFFECTING

WORKING PEOPLE HERE AND ABROAD

when more than 200 workers at a Jonquiere, Quebec outlet voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union.

In fact, UFCW’s success was not only a first in Canada, it was the first time a Walmart had been unionized in North America since the company’s founding in 1950.

However, the victory was short-lived.By February 2005, just as the work-

ers’ first contract was going to arbitra-tion, Walmart announced it was clos-

ing the store. It claimed the Jonquiere location was unprofitable.

However, in a nine-year legal bat-tle by the UFCW on behalf of the terminated workers that finally came before Canada’s top court this past June, Walmart’s dishonesty was finally exposed. The justices concluded that Walmart was acting inconsistently with normal business practices – the store was performing well and Walmart had even promised bonuses for employees.

There simply was no good reason to close the Walmart in Jonquiere while

the first contract was being bargained, the court concluded. As a result, the Supreme Court ordered Walmart to make appropriate reparations to the fired workers, possibly with damages and interest.

A first for Walmart workers’ rights in Canada, this judgment opens a new chapter in the 20-year, David-versus-Goliath fight to organize one of the most anti-union corporations on the planet.

According to legal experts on both sides of the issue, the effects of this Supreme Court rul-ing will be felt throughout Canada. From now on, busi-nesses where unionization is underway will have to tread more carefully before resort-ing to the kinds of tactics that Walmart employed.

For UFCW’s national presi-dent Paul Meinema, Walmart is now on notice.

According to the union, 24 different groups of Walmart workers across Canada have

tried to join the UFCW since 1994. In every one of those cases, Walmart has done whatever it can to try to convince them otherwise.

“Year after year, Walmart uses dirty tricks to stop its associates from exer-cising their democratic right to join a union,” says Meinema. “The Supreme Court ruling sends a message that no one is above the law.

“Employers must respect the law and the rights of their employees when making business decisions.”

NEIL MONCKTON

on us, we’re going to respond. As a movement, we need to show Canadians that we are

standing up for the rights of all workers, so that everyone can enjoy the benefits that we have gained in the trade union movement.

A large portion of the public does not support our move-ment. They see the divide of better pensions and wages for unionized workers versus non-union workers.

We need to bridge this divide by sharing the merits of our work for all Canadians.

My intention is to build a more inclusive and proactive movement. This can be done through recognition and support for labour federations and labour councils; for women, work-ers of colour, Aboriginal workers, youth, LGBTQ and workers with disabilities.

It is clear that a fully united and effective labour movement must speak on behalf of all its members and take action to achieve a better life for all working Canadians.

HUSSAN YUSSUFF • CLC PRESIDENT

II believe a better world is possible. I wake up every morning with the intent to contribute as much as I can to making this happen.

It’s an honour for me as the new CLC president to be able to lead us at this important time in history.

In the last eight years, the federal government without any hesitation, has been doing more to roll back the rights that we have taken for granted for decades in this country. The labour movement has suffered systematic attacks on our rights and social programs, and I think our current government has unions in their crosshairs.

In the last year-and-a-half, workers have been legislated back to work six times. This government is sending the message loud and clear that negotiations are no longer about workers appro-priately improving their lives.

This type of behaviour needs to stop. The CLC is going to fight to stop that kind of attack and do whatever is necessary to ensure this government understands that if they want to keep waging war

It’s a new era at the CLC – meet Hussan Yussuff

ave money. Live better.That’s the cur-

rent brand slogan for Walmart.

Yet, the world’s big-gest private employer

may have to consider adding one more phrase to its corporate mantra – unions welcome.

In a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision against Walmart Canada, the country’s top justices determined the company broke Quebec’s labour laws when it shut down one of its stores after it had unionized.

For Canada’s trade union movement, it’s a positive outcome in a decades-long fight to organize Walmart in our country.

It’s been 20 years since Walmart came north of the border. In that time, the mega-retailer has grown from the 122 stores it first acquired in 1994 from Woolworths, to 391 outlets employing over 91,000 Canadians today.

And right from its jump into Canada, Walmart’s been clear it will do anything to keep unions out of its stores. In fact, one of its first actions was to exclude the purchase of any unionized Woolworth-owned Woolco outlets when it bought out the dying retail chain.

It wasn’t until September 2004 that a successful organizing drive took place at a Canadian Walmart,

SSupreme Court rules against Walmart

LRB rules IKEA guilty of unfair labour practices

The B.C. Labour Relations Board has ruled that IKEA breached the prov-ince’s labour code

by bargaining in bad faith.

The July 24 decision found that

IKEA bargained directly with employees and through a web-site posting that offered an extra $2.50 an hour, additional unspecified weekend premi-ums and other enhancements to employees who would cross the picket line.

The LRB also revealed that IKEA was trying to induce the workers, represented by Teamsters Local 213, to aban-don the union and bypass its exclusive bargaining agent rights.

The LRB has ordered IKEA to pay damages to the union, remove the offending web post-ing, and stop paying monetary incentives.

Teamsters Business Representative Anita Dawson says the union is extremely pleased with the decision.

“This shows IKEA for what it is; a company which makes bil-lions of dollars a year in profits yet refuses to negotiate to bring an end to this dispute but is willing to underhandedly pay more than what was in the last offer they gave us.”

IKEA locked its employees out on May 13, 2013, over 15 months ago.

Across North America, Walmart’s low wage, anti-union policies are meeting opposition, from workers and their communities.

GETTY

IMA

GES PH

OTO

10 G U A R D I A N • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4

It’s a new era at the CLC – meet Hussan Yussuff

ncreasingly, employers are using Canada’s “guest worker programs” to access a vulner-able international labour pool and drive down wages, cre-ating unnecessary hostility against migrant workers in the process.

And despite a temporary foreign worker population that has grown to more than 330,000 since 2002 – when Ottawa expanded its guest worker programs to include “low-skilled” positions – immigrant settlement ser-vices have been drastically cut in most provinces.

Once these workers arrive in Canada, they are largely at the mercy of their employer with few services to assist them and fewer still to advocate for decent working conditions.

As a result, many temporary work-ers coming to Canada end up isolated, with little or no information about their rights or how to protect them-selves from unscrupulous employers.

Organizations like the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal, however, are helping to fill the gap.

Run by a handful of paid organizers and a group of dedicated volunteers (many who are, or who have been,

migrant workers themselves), the IWC has the appearance of a much bigger operation given the quality and quantity of the work produced.

Volunteers teach language classes, workshops on occupational health and safety, and employment stan-dards.

Law students offer a weekly legal clinic. Workers can get help to access employment insurance, address workplace problems, find informa-tion about their employment and social rights, and much more.

The origins of the IWC are deeply rooted in the immigrant communities who have long worked in the most exploitative industries in Montreal. Organizers from the Filipino-Canadian community, who were working to unionize Filipino workers in the textile industry, along with their academic allies, founded the centre to create a political space for organizing,

based on a grassroots model. Skeptical of service-based models of

organizing, the IWC organizers knew that supporting workers to develop their skills and confidence to self-advocate and lead campaigns was a way of building stronger, more endur-ing resistance.

IWC organizer Joey Caluguay says the cen-tre was conceived of “as a labour, education and campaign centre, for workers and their fami-lies to feel safe and to support their efforts to get organized and fight back.’’

It is this very power-ful idea and practice of rank and file leadership development that is a core value of the centre and key to their organiz-ing model.

Since 2000, the IWC has developed consid-erable credibility for its capacity to organize and advocate. It has taken on, and won, complex Employment Insurance and occupational health and safety cases, helped workers recover tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid overtime and overpaid income tax, developed a program combining computer literacy with labour educa-tion, developed a guide for migrant workers regarding their rights, and the list goes on.

But most importantly, the centre empowers workers to organize col-lectively and advocate for themselves.

“Case work is important to under-stand what’s going on,” explains Joey, “but the approach has to be based on case work as an organizing tool, not a social work exercise.’’

The success of this approach was evident at the founding in November 2013 of the Association of Temporary Foreign Workers (ATFW).

For years, the IWC worked to make contact with temporary foreign workers across Quebec.

It is painstaking work – distribut-ing leaflets at metro stations or at the local Tim Horton’s or other worker

hangouts week after week. But after two years, organizers had developed a core group of workers in each main industry where migrant workers are present.

Initially, organizers offered work-shops on problems that migrant

workers face every day, such as how to file an occupational health and safety complaint, employment standards, or file an income tax report.

In the beginning, Joey notes that it was the staff that gave workshops and organized the meetings. Now, “the members are becoming their own organizers and educators.’’

In all, 100 people participated in the founding of the association. That day was full of learning about

workers’ rights and witnessing the testimony, shared in several languages, of workers from many different countries and many different industries.

It also set the principle demands of the association –

access to permanent residency, work-ers’ rights, and support services for all migrant workers.

One group of workers was notably absent, however.

A group of Filipino slaughterhouse

workers from a small town about two hours away from Montreal planned to drive to Montreal after their shift ended at 11 p.m. However, their employer arbitrarily extended their shift to 4 a.m, then again to 7 a.m. Instead of attending, they sent a message of solidarity, and regrets for their absence. But after so many hours of working on the kill floor, ‘where the pigs sound like children’, the emotional and physical toll of their job prevented them from mak-ing the trip.

Experiences such as this are constant reminders that the stakes are high for work-ers, and that this is a long-term project.

“We’re pushing a boulder up the hill, always, but witnessing the per-sonal transformation process after workers have been involved for a while...that is the seed of what we’re working for,’’ says Joey.

Of the more than 44,000 migrant workers in Quebec, most live and work in Montreal. They come from Tunisia, Guatemala, the Philippines, Spain, Italy, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Indonesia, among other countries.

They work in many of Quebec’s major industries: agriculture, linguis-tic testing labs, telecommunications, aerospace and machine parts produc-tion, slaughterhouses, landscaping, restaurants, industrial laundry, and recycling plants.

JENNIFER WHITESIDEMONTREAL WRITER & RESEARCHER

The IWC does not have charitable tax status. You can help support the

centre through paypal at this link: http://iwc-cti.org/lattet-tfwa/

Quebec migrant workers organize to push back against racist policies, corrupt employers

I

Volunteers with the Immigrant Workers Centre, pictured above with organizer Joey Caluguay (right), are central to supporting workers to develop the skills and confidence necessary to self-advocate and lead campaigns.

As the controversy surrounding Canada’s temporary foreign workers program continues to pit Canadian-born workers against their foreign counterparts, little is being done to address the substandard, often dangerous conditions these workers are forced to endure.

The origins of the IWC

are deeply rooted in the

immigrant communities who

have long worked in the

most exploitative industries

in Montreal.

“We’re pushing a boulder up

the hill, always, but witnessing

the personal transformation

process after workers have

been involved for a while...

that is the seed of what we’re

working for.’’

LUIGI PASTO PHOTO

www.luigipasto.com

S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 1 1

Facilities members ratify agreementHEU members have voted 65 per cent in favour of ratifying a five-year collec-tive agreement that includes 5.5 per cent in general wage increases and a 500 FTE cap on contracting out.

The June vote includes mem-bers of 10 other unions also covered by the agreement.

HEU’s secretary-business manager Bonnie Pearson says the new contract pro-vides some stability and certainty for members whose workplaces have been dis-rupted by restructuring and privatization.

And she said the strong strike mandate delivered by members in May gave the union bargaining committee

the backing they needed to force employers to step back from the huge concessions they were demanding from workers.

“We now have an opportu-nity to spend some time edu-cating members about their agreement and to put an emphasis on enforcement,” says Pearson.

The new collective agree-ment also includes a transi-tion to a joint administration of benefits, renewed funding for the FBA Education Fund, and restoration of previously frozen vacation day accumu-lation.

In addition, there are mod-est improvements to evening, night, weekend and on-call differentials and to the trans-portation allowance.

The negotiations took place against the backdrop of the government’s so-called “economic stability” man-date. The wage increases contained in the agreement reflect the pattern that had been established by other public sector unions last fall.

“Despite the narrow bar-gaining mandate established by government for health employers, we were able to secure improvements in sev-eral areas including limits on six-day rotations and a joint union-employer study on the health risks of shift work,” says Pearson.

There are more than 270 occupational classifications and 47,000 workers covered by the agreement.

Celebrate support workers on August 26 “Health thrives with support.” That’s the theme of HEU’s sev-enth annual Support Workers’ Day which will be celebrated on August 26.

Quality support services are vital to the delivery of quality care. HEU support workers carry out critical roles on the health care team in housekeeping, dietary, laundry, transportation, and in the supply chain. But these jobs are often invis-ible to the public and even to other health care workers.

So on August 26, the HEU support workers’ subcom-mittee encourages locals to organize a visible event in the workplace to honour sup-port workers.

Please email photos and a brief description of your local’s Support Workers’ Day activities to: <supportwork-ers@heu.org>.

HEU to meet with Seniors AdvocateHEU has secured a meet-ing with B.C.’s new Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie to discuss a range of problems affecting staff and residents in the province’s long-term care facilities.

The early September meet-ing is part of the union’s ongoing campaign calling for badly needed improvements in residential care delivery.

Of primary concern is chronic understaffing in many residential care facili-ties, which members say

< PAGE 12 to PAGE 14>

High school teacher TARA EHRCKE is an outspoken advocate for better learning and teaching conditions in B.C.’s public school system.

WHY CLASS SIZE MATTERS

BALANCING IT ALL PATTY GIBSON

Ehrcke was astounded by the dif-ference between the two.

“It’s not just that there were fewer students in the private class-room, between 12 and 18, there was more adult supervision every-where…at break time in the play-ground, in the hallways, during assemblies in the gym,” she says.

“The impact of 30 students to one teacher in a public school goes way beyond the classroom,” she says. “It means the environment overall is loud, chaotic, crowded and there aren’t enough adults to be able to

ike most teachers in B.C.’s public school system, Tara Ehrcke’s got a lot on her plate. On any given day, she’s dealing with numerous competing challenges

to meet the needs of her students.And she’s doing it in an envi-

ronment that is increasingly overcrowded and where the make-up of the student popula-tion is increasingly complex.

A high school math and com-puter education teacher by pro-fession, Ehrcke is also the parent of a teenage daughter, an activist in her union, the author of a regular online blog, and a pas-sionate voice for better learning conditions in B.C. classrooms.

In the midst of the contract dispute between B.C. teachers and the provincial government, Ehrcke talked with the Guardian about two core issues that have reached the tipping point in our public classrooms: class size and class composition.

Having found her first job in a private school, where she taught for one semester before she was able to land a posi-tion in a Victoria public school,

monitor and intervene on inappropriate behaviour.”As to the impact inside the classroom, Ehrcke

describes it this way: “Your starting point is 30 chil-dren for five hours a day, every day, with all their individual needs and personal behaviours. There are students living in poverty, students with behaviour problems, students with high anxiety, students with diagnosed and undiagnosed learning or intellectual disabilities, and more students with autism.”

A loud, over-stimulating environment, she says, is exactly what can trigger challenging behaviours and unpredictable events. Hence, a significant part of any given day is not only dealing with individual learning concerns, but also dealing with students with very serious learning, social and emotional needs.

“Your job is to ensure the safety and well-being of all those children. And yet, you have so little control when it’s you and 30 children,” says Ehrcke.

“No teacher wants the anxious child to fall apart in their classroom, or a child with autism to have a melt-down, or unpredictable outbursts of violent behaviour.”

As for the learning component, she says, “You aren’t just preparing a single lesson. You have to build-in design adaptations, modifications, and in some cases whole individual programs for each child at the level they are at.”

It’s this reality that has made class size and compo-sition such a critical issue for B.C. teachers. It affects the whole school – the quality of education for stu-dents and the working conditions for teachers.

“Working and learning conditions are completely inter-related. Reacting, responding, managing all of these pressures on a constant basis really takes its toll on teachers, who can be under so much stress they can barely cope.”

In Victoria, one in 10 teachers over a five-year period will need a stress-related leave.

As she states in her online blog Staffroom Confidential: “The ‘public’ in public school does not just mean pro-viding a building with some tired teachers to deliver a curriculum measured on some standardized tests. A good public school system will provide high quality opportunities to every single child. While our public schools have many wonderful programs and many dedicated teachers, the sad truth is that there are also overcrowded classrooms, children falling behind, and a workforce exhausted from trying to fill in the gaps.”

L

“It’s not just that there

were fewer students in

the private classroom,

between 12 and 18, there

was more adult supervision

everywhere…at break time

in the playground, in the

hallways, during assemblies

in the gym.”

12 G U A R D I A N • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4

puts themselves and their residents at risk.

“Many long-term care homes simply don’t have enough staff, 24/7, to pro-vide the standard of care any one of us would want for our-selves and our loved ones,” says HEU secretary-business manager Bonnie Pearson.

An HEU project initiated last fall under the banner Time to Care brought to light a number of pressing issues facing care aides and other health care assistants work-ing in long-term care facilities.

“By far, the top concern reported by participating members was short-staffing and the risks associated with it,” says Pearson.

HEU will also press for greater movement on a

number of recommenda-tions coming from the B.C. Ombudsperson’s landmark investigation into seniors’ care, including the need to create enforceable stan-dards of care and better protections for residents and workers disrupted by large scale staff turnover that result from contracting out.

“We look forward to a meaningful and productive discussion on the issues that matter most to our members and the residents in their care,” says Pearson.

The Seniors Advocate has a broad mandate to monitor system-wide issues affect-ing the well-being of B.C. seniors and make recom-mendations to government.

Pharmacare updateA policy grievance filed by HEU, on behalf of the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA), has resolved some problems encountered during the imple-mentation of the Pharmacare tie-in, bargained in 2010.

A settlement reached between the FBA and the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) restores cover-age for 10 specific high-use drugs for members who were prescribed those medications under the previous drug plan.

In addition, members who were charged fees by doctors for Special Authority Requests on or after December 1, 2012 will also be reimbursed upon completion of an Extended Health claim form, which includes the original receipt

and relevant informa-tion.

Members who had an approved claim for one of the listed drugs six months before the Pharmacare tie-in came into effect – December 1, 2012 to June 1, 2013 – can now be reimbursed if they paid out-of-pocket for any of the 10 specific drugs listed in the agreement. And they will be covered for those drugs going forward.

Members who stopped tak-ing one of the 10 listed drugs under the new plan, but had an approved claim between December 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013 can also receive coverage for that drug going forward.

Pacific Blue Cross will contact all members or

dependents who qualify for this coverage. Members do not need to contact the union themselves to qualify.

The parties also clarified which Pharmacare rules are applicable to FBA members, including the price per pill limit.

FBA members are entitled to a dispensing fee reim-bursement of either $9 (as per the previous col-lective agreement) or the Pharmacare maximum, whichever is higher.

The Pharmacare program was agreed to in the 2012 round of FBA bargaining, and came into effect for members on June 1, 2013. That agree-

Media production specialist ROB LYONS is using his unique skills set to communicate and educate through cutting-edge technology.

HEALTH CARE BEHIND THE LENS

continued on page 14

ON THE JOB BRENDA WHITEHALL

“I do a lot for the foundations’ magazines, wheth-er we’re putting a kid on the cover or shooting a profile of a doctor. Sometimes, we’ll do photos of lab stuff, but it’s mostly if they’re doing an article on someone or they need a photo for an annual report or a medical journal.”

He says his favourite duty is filming surgeries. “It’s kind of exciting because it’s a pretty serious situation. But I think that’s where we make the most contribution because it’s the most clinical aspect of our job.”

Lyons works closely with the surgical team to avoid obstructing the process. “The surgeons are great to work with, friendly and very accommo-dating. They’ll tell you when you can move in, or

ask you to get over their shoulder and get a close up of something. It’s a lot more cooperative than I thought it would be. I thought I would just be a fly on the wall in the corner, but they really let you get involved and get close to get what they want.”

Interestingly, his background as an athlete pre-pared him for handling the O.R. more than any clinical training.

“I was a skateboarder for over 25 years, so I was no stranger to the emergency room and getting stitches. But I think you get disconnected looking through the camera. I can’t watch it on TV, to be honest. I don’t have the stomach to watch surgery on

television. But when I’m in the operating room, it’s very differ-ent and doesn’t seem to bother me at all. I actually want to get closer to see more.”

Although the Vancouver native mostly trained on the job, he has an exten-sive film background, working indepen-dently on TV shows and websites after graduating from film school.

“Before this, I shot things like fashion

videos and corporate mining communications – or worked on television shows, like sci-fi shows – so it’s all kinda fringey and materialistic, entertainment. But being able to use my skills and abilities to con-tribute to a community social cause like health care is a pretty rare opportunity.”

Lyons got involved in the union through a Job Review Request, which he says was a big learning experience and his first step into activism.

“I’ve been really thankful for all of the support from the union. I’ve seen that there’s a real need to have people supporting the union the way they support us.”

t’s always intriguing to unearth an obscure HEU job that pushes the work from behind-the-scenes into the spotlight. For Rob Lyons, a media production specialist at Children’s and Women’s,

his job is actually behind a lens. “People find it unbelievable

that this job even exists,” says Lyons, who joined HEU in 2011. “I have a pretty wide range of duties: video production, pho-tography, live webcasts, graphic design, sound recording. Part of what I really like about the job is the variety.

“We also do a lot of intri-cate and highly skilled computer work, and provide technical support to all the onsite classrooms and lecture halls.

“The most exciting part of this is programming the high-fidelity mannequins in the simulation lab, and running full medical scenarios there. A team from Women’s just won an award for work that was based on some scenarios that we contributed to.”

With less than 12 media production specialists (also called media services technicians) in B.C., the scope of work is incredibly diverse. Working for both Women’s and Children’s foundations, Lyons does editorial and clinical photography for surgeons and clinics, such as plastic surgery; and films surgi-cal procedures for educational purposes.

I “The surgeons are

great to work with,

friendly and very

accommodating.

They’ll tell you when

you can move in, or

ask you to get over

their shoulder and

get a close up of

something.”

S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 1 3

SEPTEMBER 1Labour Day

OCTOBER 1Trades and Maintenance Day

OCTOBER 18Health Care Assistant Day

OCTOBER 22-24Provincial Executive Meeting

NOVEMBER 2-7HEU 29th Biennial Convention

NOVEMBER 24-28B.C. Federation of Labour Convention

DECEMBER 1World AIDS Day

DECEMBER 3International Day of Persons with disAbilities

DECEMBER 6Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

DECEMBER 10Human Rights Day

DECEMBER 8-12Provincial Executive Meeting

S E P T E M B E R

O C T O B E R

N O V E M B E R

D E C E M B E R

uestion: What happens when you bring together 12 HEU members working in seniors’ care to cre-ate progressive art?

Answer: An intricate, colourful art piece that expresses the realities, hopes and contradictions that mark their daily experiences as care-provid-ers.

Entitled Help Us, Help Them, the entry was one of more than 100 submissions chosen for public presentation in the AGEWELL Chataquata Project Exhibition, Dialogues and Workshops held in Vancouver during late May and early June.

HEU education director Juli Rees was thrilled with the collective art piece produced by HEU members.

“After talking about their own feelings in providing care, and their frustrations when they are not able to provide the quality of care their residents need and deserve, members worked together with a graphic recorder and multimedia artist to generate a truly remarkable piece of art.”

She says the piece speaks to their vision of a “home with heart” while including the stresses and restrictions they contend with, as staff, in trying to make that happen.

The art piece is a three-dimensional, cardboard-crafted “home” that incorporates felt and wool as its principle media.

The Artist’s Statement introducing the piece at the exhibit described it this way:

“We are frontline health care workers. We care for seniors in nursing homes, and often spend more time with them than with our own families.

“Our struggle is finding the time to care for the daily physi-cal needs and ongoing emotional needs of our aging residents. How can we provide a home with a heart, when there are so few of us to provide for those needs? We think it is important to help our residents live the final stage of their lives with respect and grace. Don’t you?”

The exhibit, which included workshops and dialogues, is the first phase of the AGEWELL Chataquata Project, a partnership between Arts Health BC and Judith Marcuse Projects which is funded by the City of Vancouver.

It is also part of the larger Arts for Social Change research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Arts Health BC Executive Director Nicki Kahnamoui says the HEU piece was unique in that it was one of the few entries that came from care-providers and the only artwork that was

produced by a group.Regarding the overall exhi-

bition, she says, “What really stood out was the diversity and range of creative expres-sions. People were thirsty to express themselves.”

Of the more than 100 entries, the exhibit included a wide range of creative media from poetry, pottery and visu-al art to photography, sculp-ture, performances, memory boxes, and much more.

“I loved the variety and range, both in terms of the media used and the top-ics being covered…policy issues, self-reflections, sex,

disability, humour,” she says. “We had a painting of polar bears, for example, and at first

I thought ‘what does this have to do with seniors’ health?’ Until the care-provider dropping it off from a seniors’ home explained that painting was a method the 89-year-old resident used to help manage chronic pain.”

Kahnamoui says the exhibit provided a way to reach out to the community and encourage members of the public to express their thoughts and feelings about aging and seniors’ well-being through the art medium of their choice.

Now that the exhibit is over, the project’s facilitators will identi-fy the major themes that emerged in the exhibit and invite further dialogue on those topics from interested groups and individuals.

You can learn more about the AGEWELL Chataquata Project at <info@icasc.ca>.

PATTY GIBSON

ment linked members’ pre-scription drug coverage to the list of drugs covered by the B.C. government’s Fair Pharmacare program.

For more information, visit <www.heu.org>.

New care aide schedules Following HEU’s success-ful grievance regarding the Vancouver Island Health Authority’s handling of HCA/care aide postings at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General Hospital earlier this year, the health authority agreed to implement the arbitrator’s recommendations and cre-ate new postings.

At press time, most new postings had been made available to care staff.

Prior to the January post-

ings, HEU had strongly objected to VIHA’s process, their proposed six-day rota-tions, the inclusion of days, evenings and nights in the same rotations, and the increased use of part-time positions.

Blue Poppy contest winners HEU’s Persons with disAbili-ties standing committee’s third annual Blue Poppy contest winners are:

In the 8-15 year-old cat-egory, Tristan Coleman of Penticton (Robert Coleman) took first place and won an iPad. Second place win-ner Amrit Kaur Jaswal of Vancouver (Kuljeet Kaur Jaswal) won an iPad Mini; and runner-up Mackenzie Jones of Skidegate (Nadine

Jones) won an iPod Shuffle. In the 2-7 year-old cat-

egory, Tyeshia Bailey of Surrey (Suzi Rothenburger) won the first prize iPod Touch. Second place win-ner Sophia With of Nelson (Eileen With) won an iPod; and runner-up Liam Erbemish of Revelstoke (Carolyn Chwyl) won an iPod Shuffle.

Bridging program for regulated pharmacy techs extendedHEU and Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services have agreed to extend the deadline for conversions under an agreement cover-ing Regulated Pharmacy Technicians.

HEU members now have until November 2015 to com-

plete bridging courses under the agreement. The original deadline was November 2013, and that had been previously extended to November 2014.

Members in pharmacy who complete their bridg-ing and register with the College of Pharmacists within the newly extended timeline will become Regulated pharmacy Technicians.

They will keep their exist-ing position without dis-placement or reposting, and receive the new higher rate of pay (grid 32).

Since HEU and the employer agreed to the con-version process, more than 300 Pharmacy members across the Lower Mainland have completed the bridg-

ing program and have con-verted. More are scheduled to write their final exam in September 2014.

The union has estab-lished a similar exten-sion with Interior Health Authority and is looking to establish similar exten-sions, where appropriate, for Pharmacy Technicians elsewhere in the province.

The FBA Education Fund was renewed in the most recent round of Facilities bargaining, and will be open for member applica-tions shortly. This union fund has supported Pharmacy Techs interested in pursuing the regulated title.

Members can receive up to $2,400 towards their bridging.

continued from page 13

Making art for social change

HEU members’ contribution to the AGEWELL Chataquata Project Exhibition entitled Help Us, Help Them.

Q

14 G U A R D I A N • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NUMBER 40007486

helped bring HEU to repre-sent members at Central City Lodge. He is remembered as a caring, dedicated and hard-working member.

In retirement, Thomas plans to do volunteer work, participate in badminton and tennis, spend time with his family and travel in the U.S.

He will be greatly missed by staff and residents.

In Memoriam

Mary Alexandra Black passed away in Kamloops on June 17 at the age of 101. Mary was the wife of William (Bill) M. Black, HEU’s first secretary-busi-ness manager. She was also a strong trade unionist who played an integral role in HEU’s history.

The Heart of Health Care:

The Story of the Hospital Employees’ Union had this to say about her activism:

“Those who worked closely with her con-sidered her almost as important as her husband in providing leadership during the union’s forma-tive years. She was a trade unionist in her own right. Her father was a labour activist and a conscien-tious objector, a fact so outrageous in southern Ontario during the First World War that she was stoned by neighbourhood girls…Those familiar with Bill Black’s leader-ship were later unable to say where Bill Black’s contribution to HEU ended and Mary Black’s began.”

Born in Stratford, Ontario, Mary was the eldest child of Rachael and Alexander McCormack, Scottish immi-grants and pioneer social activists. Mary followed in her parents’ footsteps when she became the first secre-tary in the CCF’s Vancouver office.

On December 7, 1934, Mary spoke on behalf of unemployed women before Premier Pattullo and George Pearson, the Minister of Labour.

While preparing her presentation for the Joint Committee on Unemployment, Mary met

RetirementsCare aide Sherry

Nornberg (Rotary Manor) retired May 28 after 25 years. Known as a leader and mentor to many people, Sherry was a labour council delegate who held many positions on her local execu-tive, including OH&S, griev-ance committee, shop stew-ard, and the political action committee.

As a retiree, she plans to travel to New Orleans and Texas, and visit her family in Alberta. “Sherry never planned to be in Dawson Creek for so long,” says co-worker Angie Bonazzo.

“But the staff and manage-ment at Rotary are grateful she did. Rotary Manor will not be quite the same with-out her.” Co-workers, man-agement and the residents will miss her. Enjoy your retirement, Sherry!

After more than 15 years as an HEU member, Wendy Smith (Simpson Manor) retired on May 1. A cook at her facility for 30 years, she also served on her local executive for three years in the positions of senior trust-ee and senior trustee elect. “I find I am ready to retire, but am also kind of sad,” says Wendy.

“I will miss all my co-workers – some I’ve known for 20-25 years.” Wendy plans to occasionally travel with her long-distance truck-er husband.

She looks forward to sleep-ing in every day, spending more time with her four grandchildren and enjoying life. She will be missed by all at Simpson Manor. Happy retirement, Wendy!

The union wishes Thomas Vasa (Central City Care) the best in his retire-ment years. Thomas retired May 31 after 18 years as an HEU member, the last five as housekeeping supervisor. He has been active on his local and has held the positions of secretary-treasurer and OH&S steward on the joint OH&S committee.

Thomas started working with Central City Mission in 1975 and is proud to have

William Black, whom she married in 1936. Bill became HEU’s secretary-business manager in 1944. Mary later became an HEU staff person, the only one listed in HEU’s Constitution and By-Laws (Article 26 - Honourary Members).

Solidarity forever, Mary, for you made the union strong.

Staff RetirementHEU bids farewell to long-

time communications officer Margi Blamey who retired on July 1.

Margi joined HEU’s com-munications department in 1998 after spending years as a union activ-ist with roots in the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and as a communications specialist in the federal gov-ernment.

During her time at HEU, Margi worked on a num-ber of projects including the Women’s and Political Action committees, seniors’ care issues and as a long-time board member of the BC Health Coalition.

She also handled much of the union’s media relations.

Margi’s colleagues will remember her poise and professionalism as well as her sharp analysis and wide-ranging knowledge of health care policy.

A dedicated feminist, Margi also worked with several women’s rights organizations on behalf of the union.

In her retirement, Margi is looking forward to spending more time with her grand-children, and ramping up her daily workouts.

NORNBERG

SMITH

VASA

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W I N T E R • G U A R D I A N 2 0 0 5 19S U M M E R / F A L L • G U A R D I A N 2 0 1 4 1 5

“In humble dedication to all those who toil to live.”

EDITOR

Mike OldMANAGING EDITOR

Patty GibsonASSOCIATE EDITOR

Brenda WhitehallDESKTOP PRODUCTION

Elaine HapperDESIGN CONSULTATION

Kris Klaasen, Working DesignPRINTING

Mitchell PressThe Guardian is published on behalf of the Provincial Exec utive of the Hospital Employ ees’ Union, under the direction of the following editorial committee:

Victor Elkins, Bonnie Pearson, Donisa Bernardo, Ken Robinson, Carolyn Unsworth, Woody Laforest, Kelly Knox

PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVEVictor ElkinsPresident

Bonnie PearsonSecretary-Business Manager

Donisa BernardoFinancial Secretary

Ken Robinson1st Vice-President

Carolyn Unsworth2nd Vice-President

Woody Laforest3rd Vice-President

Kelly KnoxSenior Trustee

Jim CalvinTrustee

Betty ValenzuelaTrustee

Lynnette KingstonRegional Vice-President Fraser

Jodi GeorgeRegional Vice-President Fraser

Shelley BridgeRegional Vice-President Interior

Barb NederpelRegional Vice-President Interior

Dawn ThurstonRegional Vice-President Interior

Louella VincentRegional Vice-President Vancouver Coastal

John FraserRegional Vice-President Vancouver Coastal

Beverly TrynchyRegional Vice-President Vancouver Coastal

Tracey BeckleyRegional Vice-President North

Carol ConnorRegional Vice-President North

Bill McMullanRegional Vice-President Vancouver Island

Barb BileyRegional Vice-President Vancouver Island

Carol Bunch First Alternate Provincial Executive

UNION OFFICESProvincial Office 5000 North Fraser Way Burnaby V5J 5M3 604-438-5000EMAIL heu@heu.org WEB www.heu.org

Regional OfficesVANC OUVER ISL AND Victoria201-780 Tolmie Avenue Victoria V8X 3W4 (250) 480-0533

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NORTHERN1197 Third Ave.Prince George V2L 3E4(250) 564-2102

PINK TRIANGLEFor support: afraid of being identified, feeling isolated, want to know your rights? Call for information on same-sex benefits, fighting homophobia and discrimination.

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIESIf you are on WCB, LTD, or if invisibly or visibly disabled in the workplace, let us know how the union can better meet your needs.

EQUITY MATTERS1.800.663.5813 or

604.438.5000 Lower MainlandAsk for Equity Officer

Sharryn Modder

pinktriangle@heu.org

pwd@heu.org

women@heu.orgFIRST NATIONSFirst Nations members would like to hear from you! Please call if you would like to help educate our union sisters and brothers on issues that affect First Nations People.

ETHNIC DIVERSITYOne union, many colours! Working across our differences! To par-ticipate, please call and leave us your name!

WOMEN’SThe HEU Women’s Standing Committee works with women’s groups, coali-tions and other union committees to advance women’s social and economic rights. Want to get involved?

ediversity@heu.org

fnationspeople@heu.org

NOTIFY US OF YOUR CHANGE OF ADDRESS by visiting our website and filling out our online form!

www.heu.org/change-address-form

p8Between the 60s and the 80s, HEU grew rapidly

in numbers and strength, building an unprecedented level of activism across the union.

{ Part two of our three-part series on the history of HEU }

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4 • V O L U M E 3 2 N U M B E R 2 • T H E V O I C E O F T H E H O S P I T A L E M P L O Y E E S ’ U N I O N

A LEGAC Y WORTH PROTECTING1958 – HEU convention delegates call for a national public health insurance program.

1966 – Federal government passes Medicare legislation.

2014 – Medicare opponents go to B.C. Supreme Court to expand for-profit health care.

Learn more at bchealthcoalition.ca

HEU members fought for Medicare. Now, let’s defend it.

Medicare founder Tommy Douglas

RETURN TOThe Guardian5000 North Fraser WayBurnaby, B.C.V5J 5M3

AGREEMENT NUMBER 40007486