Taking the Pulse
Province-wide strategy conferences see nurses gear up for bargaining in the year ahead
BCNU regional bargaining strategy conferences were held throughout the province in October and November. The meetings are an important first step in the provincial bargaining process and allow BCNU members to shape the direction and priorities that will help determine the outcome of future negotiations between the union and health employers.
BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen and CEO/Executive Director Umar Sheikh travelled the province and listened closely to members' concerns. Conference attendees were given reports on current issues of interest arising from the last round of bargaining and participated in group exercises to help determine the top priorities for the next round.
Members who follow Nurses' Bargaining Association (NBA) negotiations closely can be forgiven if they feel surprised that the process for a new provincial contract is already underway. This is in part due to the fact that the current 2014–2019 contract was not ratified until May 2016.
A significant reason for this delay was the government wage pattern locked in place by a so-called "me-too" clause accepted by other public sector bargaining associations, and which prevented the NBA from negotiating a superior wage package that would not then require employers to provide the same improvement to members of other bargaining associations.
To prevent this from happening again, the NBA negotiated a clause that now sees negotiations for the next contract commence no later than April 1, 2018.
The political environment in which negotiations take place can have a significant effect on bargaining. Sheikh gave conference participants an overview of BC's political landscape and an assessment of the New Democrat government's mandate.
The election of a new provincial government is certainly the biggest change that has occurred since the last round of NBA bargaining, and the NDP's commitment to invest in public services such as health care is reason enough to be optimistic about negotiations the year ahead, Sheikh observed. But the precarious nature of a minority government also means there is no telling how long the current government will last. "BCNU will continue to work with all political parties to make sure nurses' voices are most effectively heard and respected," he said.
Sheikh also stressed the importance of connecting with the public and ensuring nurses' message resonates with patients and their families. "Nurses will need to be vocal and active in their communities and in their worksites in order to secure the gains they want to see in the next contract," he said.
"Nurses will need to be vocal and active in their communities and in their worksites."
The next round of bargaining will also be informed by BCNU's recently approved three-year strategic plan that aims to strengthen the organization through sound governance and strong member advocacy. Reviewing the plan, Sorensen noted that BCNU aims to build relationships with nursing and labour organizations, and enhance collaboration with other health-care stakeholders such as education and research institutions. "We are well-educated and well-spoken, we are critical thinkers and we are professional in our approach," she said, when characterizing the union's course going forward.
Conference participants were given a summary report on the progress made on a number of fronts over the last two rounds of bargaining, from making ongoing progress on workload and staffing, to protecting job security, or advancing professional practice.
Sheikh highlighted the success of 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 has effectively shortened the time it takes to resolve disputes using a two-step grievance procedure while also providing continuity of contract interpretation.
Donna Bouzan, BCNU Executive Director of the new Nurse Staffing Secretariat attended many of the conferences and provided members with an overview of the progress that's now being made on the staffing front since the strengthening of NBA contract language last year that saw the creation of a series of innovative committees to ensure employers' compliance with agreed upon targets.
SETTING PRIORITIES
Conference attendees had the opportunity to review a range of current challenges that need to be considered before negotiations with health employers begin, such as ongoing workload and staffing issues from unfilled shifts to chronically understaffed nursing specialty areas – all of which contribute to members being pressured to work unpaid overtime before and after shifts – to the problem of rising long-term disability and extended health benefit costs.
"I was impressed by the knowledge and enthusiasm of our members wherever I went."
Every conference concluded with an exercise in "dotmocracy" that saw participants discuss and select their top two priority issues and indicate their preference with stickers.
BCNU Acting Vice President Adriane Gear was also present at the conferences. Gear is responsible for overseeing the union's health and safety mandate, and she took the opportunity to provide an update on BCNU's provincial violence prevention campaign that was launched in March.
"In a relatively short period of time, we've succeeded in calling attention to the steadily rising risk of violence in health care and the need to keep nurses safe," Gear told South Fraser Valley region members on Nov. 7. She reported that polling done after BCNU's major advertising campaign showed that 9 out of 10 British Columbians agree that more should be done to prevent violence in hospitals and other health-care settings.
Since then, she informed members that nurses have secured more than 14,000 signatures calling on elected officials to honour the pledges they signed during the provincial election promising to advocate for violence-free workplaces.
"We are committed to developing proposals to advance our violence-prevention goals when negotiations open in 2018."
Gear also told members about the union's plans to assist with the filing of grievances at high-risk sites and its ongoing work to "establish a culture of safety and violence reduction at every worksite" under the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed by health employers during the last round of bargaining.
Gear stressed that health and safety will continue to be a top priority at the provincial bargaining table. "We are committed to developing proposals in consultation with nurses to advance our violence-prevention goals when negotiations open in 2018," she said.
PROVINCIAL BARGAINING STRATEGY CONFERENCE AHEAD
Regional conference participants also elected delegates to BCNU's Provincial Bargaining Strategy Conference to be held January 15-16 in Vancouver.
Provincial conference participants will be presented with the results of the union's NBA bargaining survey that was sent in November to the more than 40,000 members covered by the NBA provincial collective agreement.
The survey, conducted by leading opinion and social research firm Mustel Group Market Research, will also provide critical feedback for guiding BCNU's discussions with health authorities and government on ways to improve nurses' quality of work life and their nursing practice conditions.
"I truly enjoyed getting to hear the concerns of members from every corner of the province," says Sorensen when asked about her impression of the conferences. "I was impressed by the knowledge and enthusiasm of our members wherever I went, and I'm confident our bargaining process will allow members to work together to reach our goals and support our common interest." •
UPDATE (Dec 2017)