Convention 2013 Highlights | BC Nurses' Union

March 08, 2013

Convention 2013 wraps up with Health Minister's address, and strong call to action to keep the promise of safe staffing for safe patient care

More than 400 delegates and observers wound up the convention yesterday (March 7) ready to work to ensure health employers keep the promise of safe patient care though safe staffing that they made by signing the Nurses' Bargaining Association collective agreement last fall.

President's call to action

BCNU President Debra McPherson opened Convention on March 5 with a challenge to call health employers to account for ignoring key NBA contract provisions.

That includes employers ignoring the requirement to consult nurses on new rotations to implement the 37.5-hour week and the requirement they use vacancies and overtime hours to create more regular positions, minimize disruption and protect part-time FTEs. She said members must ensure that employers respect key contract gains and replace nurses who are off on leave.

McPherson says members should be ready to take whatever action is necessary to enforce the contract, including public rallies like the one yesterday demanding safe staffing and respect for nurses at BC Women's and Children's Hospital.

Health Minister's address

Later yesterday BC Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid spoke about the contract commitment to hire the equivalent of 2,125 new nurses over four years. "It is my commitment to you that that promise will be kept. Regardless of what happens in the election and who forms the next government, I will be passing on the information and make sure that they understand the agreement and how important this part of the agreement is."

MacDiarmid received a standing ovation when she confirmed that the government has moved forward for second reading the legislation to move LPNs into the NBA. She said that Bill 18 "would allow the definition of a nurse to be broadened to include Licensed Practical Nurses."

Welcome from CFNU

Earlier Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses' Unions joined others in welcoming more than 7,200 LPNs to the ranks of BCNU. She said LPNs will experience strong common ground with other nurses, as they do in nurses' unions in Nova Scotia and Manitoba where LPNs have been part of the provincial nurses' union since the early days of unionization.