For Safe Patient Care
Member engagement is one of BCNU's highest priorities. And nowhere is this better reflected than in the preparations for provincial bargaining. The BCNU Provincial Bargaining Strategy Conference held January 15-16 in Vancouver was the culmination of a membership-wide engagement process that began three months earlier, and it was part of an important exercise in union democracy.
The current Nurses' Bargaining Association (NBA) provincial collective agreement is a five-year contract that expires March 31, 2019, but BCNU is committed to involving the entire membership in the bargaining process well in advance of actual contract negotiations. That means listening to members' concerns and identifying their priorities in order to help guide the union's discussions with health authorities and government on ways to improve quality of work life and nursing practice conditions.
To that end a survey of members covered by the NBA was conducted last summer asking nurses to identify the issues that are important to them. This survey was followed by a series of regional bargaining conferences held through October and November that saw Acting President Christine Sorensen, Acting Vice President Adriane Gear and CEO Umar Sheikh visit all of BCNU's 16 member regions and hear first-hand from hundreds of nurses about the challenges they are facing today and their hopes for future contract talks.
The over 400 delegates attending the Provincial Bargaining Strategy Conference were elected at their regional bargaining conferences. They had now come together to evaluate the bargaining survey results, elect the members to the BCNU provincial bargaining committee and job action committee, and provide the union's leadership with a mandate to bargain in the year ahead.
LAY OF THE LAND
This bargaining conference was the first with BCNU CEO Umar Sheikh at the helm as the union's lead negotiator. Although not an unfamiliar face – Sheikh served as BCNU's in-house legal counsel for two years – he took some time on day one to introduce himself to the assembled group and provide details on his background in health-care bargaining .
Sheikh provided delegates with an overview of the bargaining process and players involved. He explained the relationships between the different unions in the NBA and the dynamics between the individual employers in the Health Employers' Association of BC and these players' relationship with the provincial government.
He also reported that in recent months he and Sorensen have met with the leaders of other health sector unions. "We have done a lot of work in the past year rebuilding our relationships in the labour movement," he said. "This will take some time, but in the meantime I am proud to say that we have stopped raiding."
"We've come to understand that while we have had tremendous success welcoming LPNs into this union, there is time when you need take a step back and focus strategically on what matters."
Sheikh gave delegates an overview of the players sitting across from BCNU at the NBA bargaining table and noted key dates – such as the bargaining of essential service levels this October – before the contract expires next April.
We also gave delegates an overview of the current fiscal climate in the province and made them aware of the many macroeconomic risks that could threaten the government's bargaining mandate.
Sheikh acknowledged that it's important that nurses' wages keep up with the cost of living, and if faced with a "cupboards are bare" message from the government, he said the task will be to pressure Victoria to allocate more toward public sector wages. He also stressed that this does not simply imply demands for more funding overall. "Our message to the public will be that want to too see health care dollars better managed," he said.
PROGRESS TO DATE
Delegates were given an update on the progress toward safe staffing using the tools that were negotiated during the last round of NBA bargaining.
Consultant Frank Morgan presented an updated report on the new expedited dispute resolution process that replaced the previous time-consuming and expensive process of resolving grievances at individual arbitrations. The standing BC Healthcare Office of Arbitration (BCHOA) has effectively shortened the time it takes to resolve disputes using a two-step grievance procedure while also providing continuity of contract interpretation.
Morgan reported that BCHOA settlement rates have been impressive, and of the 127 grievances processed to date, 87 were actually resolutions prior to the need to go to hearing, and of those that did go, 26 written awards have been made and 14 are awaiting process.
"We will be working hard to ensure that the public understands our concerns for safe patient care."
Donna Bouzan, BCNU Executive Director of the new Nurse Staffing Secretariat (NSS) also provided members with an overview of the progress that's now being made since the creation of a series of innovative committees to ensure employers' compliance with agreed upon targets. She reported on the work she and her HEABC counterpart on the NSS have been doing to establish data and reporting requirements, monitor and report out on compliance, and make recommendations upon review of worksite referrals.
Bouzan provided details about the nine referrals the NSS has received due to unresolvable staffing issues and noted that six of these were from emergency departments. "We are wearing people out with the overtime," she said. "Everywhere you look, we are just under staffing. There aren't enough nurses."
ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES
BCNU director of professional practice and policy adviser Patricia Wejr led conference delegates through a review of results from the membership-wide bargaining survey compiled by Mustel Group Market Research. According to the survey, the most important demands that members felt the union should propose in the next round of bargaining were improved staffing levels and reduced workload, increased wages and workplace safety. Delegates took these results into account before participating in a final real time exercise where they used their smartphones to indicate their top bargaining priorities for the year ahead.
BARGAINING COMMITTEE ELECTIONS
Day two of the conference saw the election of the provincial bargaining committee. Seven successful candidates were chosen by secret ballot, each representing a specific healthcare sector. Delegates elected fellow members Deborah Bradshaw-White (community), Ann Marie Charbonneau (long-term care), Michael Prevost (community), Shannon Sluggett (acute care – large: 701 members or more), Hanna Embree (acute care – small: 200 members or fewer), William Howe (acute care – medium: 201-700 members), Claudette Jut (acute care – large: 701 members or more).
The elected candidates will be joined by Sorensen and Sheikh. This group, along with designated union staff coordinators, makes up the entire bargaining committee and will be tasked with negotiating a new collective agreement that best reflects the priorities of BCNU members.
Members of the Provincial Job Action Committee (PJAC) were also elected. The successful candidates were Jereme Bennett (acute care), Valerie Anne Williams (community), Shawntel Hildebrandt (member at large) and Carolyn McDonald (member at large). This group, along with BCNU Acting Executive Councillor Rhonda Croft, Executive Councillor Chris Armeanu and BCNU Treasurer Sharon Sponton, will be responsible for developing, implementing and coordinating local and province-wide job action strategies that will support negotiations and help achieve the union's bargaining goals.
READY TO SPEAK OUT
Sorensen took to the podium on day two to acknowledge the leaders in the room and prepare them for the journey ahead.
"This is a high stakes poker game," she said of the bargaining process. "This is a $3.6-billion collective agreement, and strategy, communication and timing will be critical."
She noted the new government in Victoria and said the union would be holding health minister Adrian Dix and other MLAs accountable for the commitments made toward violence-free workplaces and improvements to health care for British Columbians.
She also noted that there are new faces at the bargaining table, including three new health authority CEOs, and that it's often difficult to reach an agreement.
But Sorensen said that she and Sheikh would also be relying on the support of the members elected to the union's provincial bargaining committee. "They're our subject matter experts and they are going to assist with the allocation of government revenue and improve the management of health-care funding."
Sorensen also remarked on the passion and commitment of the delegates and why she stood before them. "I'm not just a nurse – I am a proud nurse. I love what I do and do it every day for the patients in my care," she said. "Whether we are an LPN, an RN or an RPN, whether our clients are young or old, whether we are dealing with patients, clients or residents. Wherever you work – community, acute care or residential care – I believe that you, like me, are committed to providing safe patient care."
Sorensen recognized the difficulties BC nurses face in fulfilling that commitment, and noted that more than half are not satisfied with the quality of care they are providing. "This is a system-wide problem that's the result of a lack of services and staffing shortages," she said.
Sorensen also reminded members that violence is not part of their jobs, and that nurses are now more likely to experience a violent injury on the job than law enforcement and security workers. "On average, 26 nurses a month in BC suffer a violent injury at work," she reported. "We can no longer put our physical and our mental health at risk – our families should not have worry if we will be the victims of violence when we go to work."
Pointing to the union's recent member survey, Sorensen said the union's priorities are now clear. "You've told us what's important, and what you're seeing in the workplace," she said. "Scheduling and staffing are a mess, allowable leave quotas are problematic, vacations are not being granted, there are repeated calls to work overtime."
Sorensen also noted that 51 percent of nurses have said they are working without pay 15 to 30 minutes per shift, and that 54 percent report not being paid for handover that's critical for ensuring patients' safety.
"This is the time for us to stand up and say, 'I will not work for free.'"
Sorensen told delegates to remember that health care is important to British Columbians, and that nurses should know they have the public on their side. "We will be working hard to ensure that the public understands our concerns for safe patient care," she said. "We are respected health-care professionals who care for people at their most vulnerable moments."
And she reminded members of their strength. "We are one of the most powerful unions in this province," she said. "We are 47,000 members strong at nearly 700 worksites.
And quoting a remark Sheikh made earlier in the conference, Sorensen said, "In 2019 we will let our government know we have come too far, struggled too long, sacrificed too much and have too much left to do to allow that which we have achieved for the good of all to be swept away without a fight – and we have not forgotten how to fight."
Sorensen concluded the conference by expressing her pride in the ability of the delegates to help bring members' dreams and goals to fruition, and called on them to go back to their workplaces and continue to be strong and fearless advocates for the nurses of BC.
UPDATE (March - April 2018)