Health-care quality hurt by separate negotiations, unions charge
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Updated: October 21, 2009 10:40 AM
Allowing health-care facilities to bargain separately with unions will lead to unequal standards of care, provincial health unions say.
The province is allowing publicly funded but independently operated health facilities to opt out of the Health Employers Association of B.C. – the legislated bargaining agent for government-funded facilities.
So far, 22 such facilities across B.C. have applied to bargain separately.
Mike Old, Hospital Employees’ Union spokesman, said operations that opt out of the association will negotiate separate contracts instead of having the association bargain collectively on their behalf.
“The only reason they would have for doing that is to try and squeeze wages and benefits to increase their bottom line,” he said.
Old said health workers will lose the common standard for wages and benefits that the employer’s membership in the association guaranteed.
“This move will create multiple tiers of care,” he said. “There will be higher turnover at those facilities that opted out. I think everyone benefits from some stability in that sector.”
The association bargains for the mid-Island branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Nanaimo Child Development Centre, Nanaimo District Senior Citizens Housing Development Society (Kiwanis Club of Nanaimo), Columbia Centre Society and Nanaimo Travellers Lodge Society and Malaspina Gardens.
None of those facilities have applied to leave the association and facilities directly run by health authorities, such as Dufferin Place, must continue HEABC membership.
Old said the experience at facilities like Nanaimo Seniors Village, where health services are subcontracted out and health workers are already on separate contracts, is a sign of what is to come for any facilities that opt out of the HEABC.
Nanaimo Seniors Village made news in recent years for several rounds of layoffs when the owners switched subcontractors.
Debra McPherson, president of the B.C. Nurses’ Union, said the government policy change is a major threat to quality health care.
“It encourages the employer to use the cheapest possible labour rather than the most appropriate labour,” she said. “It also puts our ability to negotiate care conditions for these seniors in jeopardy as well.”
Government is allowing private health-care employers to withdraw from the HEABC because it believes membership should be voluntary, according to the Ministry of Health Services.
Employers who want to pull out of the provincial bargaining association must apply to the Labour Relations Board. Government will consider applications from time to time.
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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