HEU Guardian: Fall 2022

FEATURE

Courage under fire

In communities threatened by wildfire, HEU members pull together

NEWS

Out of service

Telecom outage reveals risks to health care system |

Hazardous handoffs

Regulation bolsters right to refuse unsafe work

Hotel lockout ends

Hilton workers achieve new contract

Agreement sees major gains Facilities members encouraged to vote “yes” starting October

COLUMNS

Viewpoint

The best leaders help others shine

President’s Desk Safety for members takes many forms

Voices

The story of South Asians in B.C.’s labour movement

THE multi-union Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) and the Health Employers Association of BC have reached a tentative agree ment covering more than 60,000 health care workers across B.C.

The HEU Provincial Executive has endorsed the unanimous rec ommendation by the Facilities Bargaining Committee, and is ask ing members to choose “yes” in the upcoming vote.

HEU’s secretary-business man ager Meena Brisard says that seven months of negotiations took place against a backdrop of seri ous staff shortages and COVIDrelated burnout, along with rising costs not seen in decades.

“Our bargaining committee has negotiated an unprecedented agreement for the unprecedented times we are facing in health care and in the economy,” says Brisard, who is the lead negotiator and spokesperson for the FBA.

How the wage increase and COLA will work

• April 2022 will see hourly wages increased by a flat 25 cents and then boosted by a further 3.24 per cent. The flat 25 cents means a higher percentage for lowersalaried classifications, ensur ing equity for lower wage grids

• On April 1, 2023, a base 5.5 per cent boost is guaranteed. It will be increased to a maximum of

6.75 per cent if inflation is higher than the base amount.

• On April 1, 2024, a base increase of 2 per cent could be increased, if inflation rises, to a maximum of 3 per cent.

Overall, this means within 18 months of ratification (April 2024), all classifications will see increas es ranging from 14.2 per cent to 14.9 per cent under maximim cost of living adjustments..

Additional increases prioritiz ing lower-paid classifications will start in 2023, as part of a review of how the 2004 BC Liberal wage cuts impacted pay equity.

A wide range of new and updated provisions

“Your bargaining committee has negotiated more than 100 new provi sions, including a major update of our health and safety language, a number of new and improved pre miums and allowances, more worker control over shift scheduling, action on reconciliation and diversity, and more opportunities for training and education,” says Brisard.

“And significantly, health employers are committed to add ing 9.25 million hours of staffing, bringing thousands of new work ers to the front lines.”

Please go to heu.org to see more on the tentative agreement, including the full language in the comprehensive report.

BARGAINING

UPDATES

At press time, other health care bargaining associations are still working to reach tentative agreements.

Community Health returned to the table September 12, after pausing negotiations in June. The eight-union Community Bargaining Association includes 2,300 HEU members.

Negotiations for Community Social Services are heating up as the bargaining committee countered the employer’s wages and compensation offer in midSeptember. This agreement covers workers in nine unions, including 1,500 HEU members.

Health Sciences Professionals are returning to the table in September after a break during August. Their agreement covers a small number of HEU members.

The Nurses Bargaining Association is led by BCNU, and has not yet opened bargaining. HEU represents a small number of nurses at this table.

UNPRECEDENTED AGREEMENT | Full cost of living adjustments would see biggest wage gains in decades.

COMMENT

Meena Brisard | Secretary-Business Manager

Your bargaining committee delivered on protecting wages against rising costs, with increases we haven’t seen since the early ‘90s. Even if inflation falls rapidly over the next year, significant increases are guaranteed

Big wins in new tentative agreement

THERE’S much to be proud of in the tentative agreement for our members in the facilities subsector – an unprecedented agreement that tackles the ongoing pressures facing our members today, and one that deals with unjust wage cuts made a generation ago.

It includes concrete solutions to a staffing crisis that has gotten worse through COVID, and which is causing stress and burn-out on the front lines.

There’s 9 million hours of new staffing across the bargaining unit which will mean thousands of new regular full- and part-time posi tions.

You have tools to improve work-life balance through worker-initiat ed changes to six-day rotations and other schedules, and access to a $4.5 million education fund to upgrade your skills or train for a career change in health care.

Your bargaining committee delivered on protecting wages against rising costs, with increases we haven’t seen since the early ‘90s. If full cost of living adjustments are triggered by inflation, all classifications will see increases of between 14.2 per cent and 14.9 per cent within 18 months.

Even if inflation falls rapidly over the next year, significant increases are guaranteed in the agreement.

We have secured a path forward on dealing with a great injustice of

the past – the 2004 wage cuts legislated by the BC Liberal govern ment of the day that wiped out pay equity adjustments that had been made over the previous decade.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, employers and government have acknowledged the impact of these wage cuts on a workforce that has been historically undervalued for their contributions to health care, in part, because our membership is overwhelmingly female, and highly racialized.

This is huge. And it comes with money.

We will sit down with government and employers to examine how those cuts impacted the pay equity adjustments that our members received in the ‘90s and early 2000s – and make recommendations on how this will be addressed in the next round of bargaining.

As an interim step, more than $15 million in annual ongoing funding will be used to make permanent wage adjustments with a priority on lower paid classifications starting in April 2023.

This is a significant down payment on addressing the cruel and damaging wage cuts from a generation ago.

A TIME TO RISE

The Canadian Farmworkers Union was formed in 1980, following years of struggle for safer conditions and improved standards for workers – the majority South Asian immigrants – labouring in B.C.’s berry, mushroom and vegetable farms.

The union’s president Raj Chouhan (left) went on to become director of bargaining at HEU for 18 years, and has been NDP MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds since 2005. He is currently the Speaker of the Legislature.

Although the union ultimately disbanded, its activism and anti-racism work had major social and political impact, and led to expanded protections for B.C. agricultural workers in the 1990s.

Today, more than half of agricultural workers in Canada are migrant workers from Mexico and the Caribbean. Labour and migrant rights organizations continue to advocate for improvements to their working conditions, safety and security.

Sean Griffin

PHOTO

courtesy Pacific Trib/SFU

Health care vulnerable to outages

The event left many Canadians asking what they could do to avoid a similar situation in the future.

Since the outage, many have criticized that three massive com panies dominate Canada’s telecom

RANJIT UPPAL NOTICED she didn’t have cell service the morning of July 8, when she left to drive to work at BC Children’s Hospital. But she didn’t think much of it, at first.

Uppal is an operating room slat ing clerk. As part of her job, she prepares the paperwork for patient pre-screening, to make sure surger ies can go ahead. It’s a stressful yet rewarding job, contacting parents and caregivers who are often wor ried about their loved ones.

When she arrived at work, it became clear that no Rogers net work phones were working.

“It was really horrible,” said Uppal, the vice-chair of her PHSA Amalgamated local. “We were wor ried that we wouldn’t be able to

get hold of patients’ families to give them arrival times and fasting instructions.”

The team jumped into action, trying to contact family members by email instead, but some didn’t have email access either. Uppal says families pulled together a patchwork of services, with some even managing to find a pay phone.

“You could hear the frustration and stress in their voices,” said Uppal. “A lot of people have been waiting a long time to get the sur gery done.”

The communication failure left health care workers scrambling.

Marjorie Calma, a housekeep er in the surgical unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital and a mem

ber of her local union executive, says housekeeping is very cellularbased.

As a Rogers customer, she was unable to contact the call centre for assignments.

“It was a busy Friday with a lot of discharges,” Calma said. “It was hard to know how many tasks we had. And we were short-staffed, but the supervisor was unable to call anyone to help.”

Across the country, Rogers ser vice users were forced offline in a rude awakening: people couldn’t make calls through mobile phones or landlines, they couldn’t work remotely or use debit cards, and 911 and emergency services were inaccessible.

system — Rogers, Bell and Telus. And the outage comes as Rogers tries to win regulatory approval to take over Shaw Communications, further extending their monopoly.

In response to the outage, the federal government has directed telecom companies to set up emer gency roaming, mutual assistance in cases of outages and better com munication protocol during emer gencies.

But the breakdown highlights the need to put people before profit in our country’s fibre optic networks.

Certainly, those working in health care hope this doesn’t hap pen again. “Even though this was just one day, it felt like a month. It was a really long day for us,” said Calma.

Uppal echoed this sentiment. “How could this happen? How can it be prevented? I felt vulnerable. How does one company have so much power?”

CAELIE FRAMPTON

UNION

More workers return in-house

The return of privatized support services workers to the health authorities continues this summer.

Since the government announced in 2021 it would end commercial contracts for housekeeping and food services, health authorities and HEU staff have been working together to smoothly bring thousands of workers back in-house.

In June, Vancouver Island Health Authority completed the transfer for all sites on the island. To date, they are also the only

health authority to include work ers at a public-private partnership (P3) site in their repatriation of support services.

By the end of the September, more than 3,500 privatized health care workers will have rejoined the public sector. Health authori ties expect to complete transfers at all sites by November.

This move has also brought over 500 workers from Langley Memorial Hospital, Delta Hospital, Ridge Meadows Hospital, Peace Arch Hospital, Peace Arch Call Centre and Peace Arch Foundation back to HEU.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS | Housekeepers at Langley Memorial Hospital are among 500 workers who returned to Fraser Health and also became new HEU members in July.

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN | HEU member Ranjit Uppal, along with health care workers across Canada, depends on the phone system to manage patient care and facility operations.

Caelie Frampton

PHOTO

Housekeeper Marjorie Calma

Joshua Berson

PHOTO

Martin MacKenzie

PHOTO

Your union. Your paper.

Caregivers’ rights to be tested in court

FOR anyone with child or elder care responsibili ties, the inevitable conflict with work schedules is a sad reality.

Presently in B.C., an employer is only required to accommodate an employee’s caregiving responsi bilities where the employer has changed a term or condition of employment that seriously interferes with an important parental or other family duty or obligation.

This could change after the outcome of an important case being heard in the B.C. Court of Appeal this October. Gibralter Mines Ltd v Harvey is about a new mother who sought a workplace accommodation after she gave birth to her first child.

She and her husband were both employees of Gibralter Mines and worked the same 12-hour shift before they had children.

After the birth, they requested that one parent be placed on a different shift to accommodate their child care obligations.

Gibralter Mines refused, and the mother filed a human rights complaint. The B.C. Court of Appeal will decide whether to depart from the narrow “change in employment” test.

This would bring B.C. law in line with the rest of Canada, where an employer may be required to accommodate caregiving responsibilities even if it is the employee’s own circumstances that have changed.

This case has great significance for workers with caregiving responsibilities as it would make it easier to have child and elder care obligations accommodated and would treat “family status” the same as all other grounds protected by the Human Rights Code.

Standard protections

UNIONIZED or not, all B.C. workers are protected by the province’s Employment Standards Act (ESA), which establishes min imum standards for wages and working conditions.

Once workers choose to join a union, their work site is certified by the B.C. Labour Relations Board (LRB), usually within eight to 10 days of the union filing an application for certification.

Recent labour code changes changes make the process easier. If at least 55 per cent of workers at a facility sign a union membership card, then they are automati cally certified once the LRB does some ran dom card-checking. They will sometimes phone or email workers to confirm if they signed a card.

If only 45 to 54 per cent of workers sign a card, then it goes to a secret ballot vote. The entire process is confidential to protect workers who are helping with the organiz ing drive. If employers threaten or intimi date workers, the union can file an unfair labour practice complaint.

After certification, the new bargaining unit needs to negotiate a first collective agreement.

During the period between union certi fication and contract ratification, workers may feel in limbo.

That’s why the union assigns a servicing representative to newly certified locals to act as a third-party advocate for workers’ rights and to hold the employer accountable.

ESA protections include: standard hours of work and scheduling, criteria for over time and stat pay, job security during leaves (such as maternity and bereavement), a minimum wage rate, vacation entitlement and paid sick days, among other rights.

Employers are legally responsible for fol lowing the ESA and ensuring workers are provided information on their rights, but violations do occur.

That’s when the union-assigned servic ing representative can help workers file a complaint with the Employment Standards Branch, or meet with the employer to rem edy the situation.

BRENDA WHITEHALL

Welcome new members

The union warmly welcomes 629 new members at the following sites, who have chosen to join the HEU family this year so far: Residences at Belvedere, Menno Home, Westcana workers at Northcrest Care Centre, Kinsmen Lodge, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Vancouver Island, Willingdon Care Centre (CareCorp Senior Services employees), and Magnolia Gardens.

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Vancouver Island was the first successful union certification under B.C.’s new single-step pro cess announced in June.

Make sure your pension statement is correct

HEU members enrolled in the Municipal Pension Plan (MPP) are encouraged to carefully review their Member Benefit Statement, especially their pensionable ser vice. Pensionable service helps determine the amount received in retirement.

Members working full-time, without unpaid leaves, should have 12 months of pensionable service each year. However, some times this is misreported, and if not corrected, will add up to a smaller pension.

KAITY COOPER

SWEET SOLIDARITY | New HEU members at the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Vancouver Island held their first local meeting in July, and celebrated their new local with cake!

Marie Pantelis

PHOTO

IT’S

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

New regs good news for worker safety

NEW legislation will make it harder for employers to pass off duties to other employees once a refusal of unsafe work has been initiated.

Under WorkSafeBC (WSBC) reg ulation, workers already have the legal right to refuse unsafe work, if they believe it could create an undue hazard to the health and safety of themselves or others.

When a worker identifies what they believe is a hazardous situa tion, they start the “unsafe work refusal” process by reporting it to their employer right away. The employer is legally bound to inves tigate the situation immediately.

If it isn’t remedied to the worker’s satisfaction, it escalates to an inves tigation with the joint occupational health and safety committee. If the worker continues to refuse to carry out the task, a WSBC officer must be called to the work site to inves tigate.

On August 22, WSBC imple mented amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation that will change the process for what employers can and cannot do while a refusal takes place.

“This is a brand new provision which fills a gap and strength ens protections for workers,” says Georgina Hackett, HEU director of OH&S. “It prohibits employ ers from requiring or permitting a worker to perform a task previ ously refused by another worker, through the unsafe work refusal process, unless certain conditions are met.”

Under the new section called

Reassignment of refused work, in situations where employers believe the work is safe for another work er to complete, they must advise that worker, in writing, about the previous refusal, the unsafe condi tion reported, the reason why they believe the task is safe to complete, and that the worker also has the right to refuse unsafe work.

These written notes must also be provided to the work site’s joint occupational health and safety committee so they can support workers in the process, and fol low up with recommendations on corrective actions to prevent the unsafe condition from developing again.

“This change will create greater transparency about unsafe condi tions at work,” says Hackett. “It’s intended to ensure employers are taking steps to make working con ditions safe, in response to unsafe work refusals, rather than simply handing refused tasks to another worker.

“It is a safeguard for workers to have all the necessary informa tion to make an informed decision about whether the work they’re being assigned is safe for them to do, and that they have the right to refuse it as well.”

The union calls for the process to include a written statement from the worker refusing the unsafe task

so that details specific to the cir cumstances, factors and conditions come from the perspective of, and in the language of, workers who perform the work. This would be beneficial for workers with less experience or who are unfamil iar with the work, and help guard against employer pressure.

HEU has also recommended WSBC develop a detailed guide line, as well as a robust education, implementation and enforcement strategy regarding the amend ments, in consultation with all the stakeholders involved.

BRENDA WHITEHALL

FOLLOWING UP | The change is intended to ensure employers are taking steps to make working conditions safe, rather than simply handing refused tasks to another worker.

If you believe there’s been an error, contact your payroll depart ment and ask them to provide clarification and/or correct the error. If you cannot get this done, contact your HEU staff represen tative.

Your pension is your paycheque for life. It is guaranteed, and a known amount you can rely on. So, take the time to ensure your pensionable service is recorded correctly.

For more details about the pen sion plan: visit mpp.pensionsbc.ca or phone 1-800-668-6335.

Prep underway for fall convention

HEU’s first in-person convention since the pandemic will take place October 16 to 21. With “Solidarity for the Win!” as the theme, dele gates will elect members to fill six new equity seats on the Provincial Executive.

These positions, created by a convention 2021 resolution, include five diversity vice-pres idents and one young workers’ representative.

HEU convention information can be found at: heu.org/ convention2022.

TIME’S UP! | Workers in housekeeping and food services at Abbotsford Hospital rally to demand their employer, Sodexo, return to the bargaining table, after delays of almost two years.

Loretta Laurin

PHOTO

A DRIVING FORCE

When health care workers decide they want to join HEU, our organizing team stands with them, providing the support, reassurance and advice needed to conduct a successful organizing drive. For health care workers who want to improve their lives and working conditions as unionized employees, Precy, Satinder, Marie, Maire, Nimfa, Josephine, Mary and Ruth (not in photo) are here to show the way.

Betty Valenzuela | Financial Secretary

VIEWPOINT

The best leader is one who can bring out the strengths of people around them, and who knows when to step back and let others rise.

WHEN I TALK to our members, I think a lot about what makes a leader. I’ve learned over the years that the best leader is one who can bring out the strengths of people around them, and who knows when to step back and let others rise.

At work, we learn how to mentor new staff. We share our knowledge and skills, to give them the best chance to succeed. And we hope they can go beyond, coming up with fresh ideas and positive changes.

That way we share the load, we’re surrounded by people who can sup port us, and we all become stronger.

True leadership in the union works the same way.

Listening leads the way

When I first became a steward, I was motivated to help. I felt such a connection, hearing about members’ struggles with their working condi tions and their personal lives.

I found that listening to other people’s stories forges bonds, and ulti mately solidarity.

A good leader is culturally sensitive and understands that the world is made up of a colourful rainbow of peoples. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

That’s why I’m excited to see so many new members coming forward to get involved, and long-time members still committed and working hard. Coming out of the pandemic, that was so tough on everyone, there is a lot of work to be done.

We rise by lifting others

With all the locals coming back in-house, plus all our new HEU mem bers, and our union getting active again, I really feel an energy.

There are more people of colour, too – a big change from when I was first elected to my local at VGH. Back then, I wasn’t sure I belonged, and it took others encouraging me to take that step.

Now I can look around and know I belong, and I see other members starting to feel that too.

If I make it halfway up the ladder, I have a responsibility to turn and extend my hand to the next person. Members keep me grounded, and remind me that in many ways I am a role model.

HEU has made an enormous difference in my life, and I want to share the opportunities.

To me, that is the spirit of HEU.

Barb Nederpel | President

PRESIDENT’S DESK

We have a lot of work ahead to create HEU spaces that are physically, culturally and psychologically safe for all our members.

AS OUR COMMUNITIES begin to fully reopen, I’m seeing a renewed excitement and energy in HEU members that’s truly inspiring – even as we remain diligent to stay safe.

We can gather again for in-person union events. We can build our solidarity on issues that matter to health care workers. And we can celebrate special events with our friends, families and neighbours.

In recent months, our Local Building Project Fund has had a massive uptake. Locals across the province are accessing funds to celebrate their continued hard work, for bargaining events, repatriation celebrations, and union education.

Coming together to break new ground

I am especially excited that we are planning an in-person HEU convention this October.

Not only is this our first large event in more than two years, but it’s also where members will be elected to the new diversity vice-president seats on our Provincial Executive – the result of a groundbreaking resolution passed at our last convention.

It’s all part of our work to build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive union, where every member has a voice in decision-making, feels valued, and sees themselves reflected in HEU’s leadership.

As locals want to invigorate and engage members more than ever, we need to take a good look at ourselves to determine what leads to members feeling excluded or even harmed in union spaces.

We will be doing a deep review of HEU’s Constitution and By-Laws to remove barriers, and update them to reflect our positive and progressive changes. And we must make sure our diversity vice-presidents are fully supported in these new positions.

Working for safety for members on all levels

Another key resolution passed at HEU’s 2021 convention directed the Provincial Executive to address sexual misconduct at union events. There is no place in our union for harassment and gender-based violence.

We are laying the foundation for this now, but we have a lot of work ahead to create HEU spaces that are physically, culturally and psychologically safe for all our members.

That’s how we’ll grow our activist base, strengthen our locals, and build our solidarity.

There’s an enthusiasm evolving that I haven’t seen in years. We are preparing for an exciting and historic convention. You’re building momentum by gathering, celebrating and learning.

And you are unstoppable.

Elaine

Littmann

PHOTO

ALL HANDS ON DECK

Residents of B.C. are now, more than ever, facing the devastating impacts of the worldwide climate crisis.

In 2021 alone, a summer heat dome contributed to the deaths of 619 people and wildfires razed regions in the province’s interior, most memorably destroying the town of Lytton.

Then, last fall, an atmospheric river in southern B.C. dumped two months’ worth of rain in just two days, causing floods, mudslides and landslides in 17 regional districts.

Consistently, HEU members have been on the front lines of these crises, caring for vulnerable people.

HEU members in wildfire zones spend summers on high alert

When patients and residents need to be moved to safety, it’s health care workers like care aide Kim Mcilravey who make it happen.

April Roberts PHOTO

Michelle Nelson, a care aide in Clinton, says wildfires are a part of her “new normal.”

SOME MEMBERS HAVE ACCOMPANIED residents or patients during an evacuation more than once. During evacuation alerts, care home residents and hospital patients are preemptively evacuated, before an order is issued for the general community.

Frequently this means that while an HEU member rushes to accompany residents to a new town, their families are back home pre paring to evacuate should an order be put in place. Workers travel to a new facility, far from home. Once there they may spend weeks, working overtime in an unfamiliar environ ment, continuing to offer high quality care.

MICHELLE NELSON is all too familiar with extreme weather events. A resident of Ashcroft, and a care aide in Clinton, sum mer wildfires are part of her new normal. In both 2017 and 2021 she was redeployed with residents during evacuation alerts and orders.

The stress of not knowing when she will next be redeployed, or when another wildfire will threaten her home, means Michelle is on edge for much of the summer.

“I hate summer now,” she says. “I love gar dening and hiking. I’m an outdoor person, but I don’t enjoy what summer brings.”

In 2021, when Clinton was put on evacuation alert, Michelle deployed with her residents to Kamloops, where she lived and worked for more than three weeks.

Packing people up to get on the road was itself a massive task, she said, but there was an emotional component as well.

“For our patients who were more cognitive ly there, it was just reassuring them that I was going with them, we weren’t going to abandon them,” she said.

Michelle and her colleagues settled the residents in at their new accommodations in

Kamloops, but as workers, they weren’t ini tially given a place to sleep.

“We were told to stay at the hospital with our residents,” she said. “There was no extra bedding. We basically slept like an hour nap each on these unmade beds.”

A hotel room shortage meant that for the next several nights it was “hit or miss” wheth er they’d have accommodations. She also had to pay for her meals up front, a reality of being redeployed that not all workers can afford, Michelle said. As a result, some people have to turn down redeployment work.

“You can’t just pull that money out of your hat,” she said. “It’s a large expense and you don’t get paid back right away.”

ANGIE BONAZZO was part of a team that responded to an extreme weather event con nected to climate change in the summer of 2017. While working as a care aide in Prince George, she and her colleagues welcomed more than 100 residents who had been evacu ated from care homes in Williams Lake due to wildfires.

Angie recalls a remarkable two-day period when everyone pulled together to prepare for the influx. “It was truly remarkable, to put together all of those accommodations,” she said. “It was all hands on deck.”

It meant “exceptional” overtime, says Angie, who recalls working a 20-hour shift to prepare for an unknown number of climate evacuees.

Perhaps most memorable was when the evac uated residents arrived en masse. Ambulances,

“IT WAS TRULY REMARKABLE TO PUT TOGETHER ALL OF THOSE ACCOMMODATIONS. IT WAS ALL HANDS ON DECK.”

– ANGIE BONAZZO

Lindsay

buses, and adapted vehicles began pulling up, and residents were unloaded. Some came with just the clothes on their back and their medica tion – but with no instructions on what kind of care they required.

“We simply rolled up our sleeves and we got it done. We just admitted people,” she says, adding how impressed she was by the clerks who did the administrative work. “We placed residents into every nook and cranny, and without even knowing them or their care plan,” she said.

“The residents were certainly very fearful,” she said. “They were running away from fire and smoke and at a very visceral level, they knew that.”

Helen Boyd, spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Nurses for Environment, says that health care workers on the front lines, such as care aides, are particularly affected by the climate crisis. These workers, she says, care for people whose health is more likely to be affected by environmental changes, and their workload invariably increases during extreme weather events.

Because of how they’re affected, Boyd says that listening to the demands of frontline health care workers is critical.

“I see their role as being real advocates, as having a loud voice as to what needs to be done,” she said. For example, this can include lobbying local governments to implement pol icies that reduce the impact of climate change.

“They can be going to municipal meetings and talking about the impact that they see on

their patients and for them to really ask for climate action,” she said.

HEU has passed resolutions at convention to lobby the federal and provincial govern ments to address the climate crisis in a variety of ways. In addition to reaching net-zero emis sions by 2050, members have said they want equity at the forefront. This includes ensuring communities, workers and First Nations have the infrastructure, resources and training to fully participate in a net-zero economy, and investing in in public health and community social services.

During provincial emergencies, HEU strives to work closely with health authori ties to provide clear and timely commu nication and direction to members, and ensure their workplace rights are upheld.

But when patients and residents need to be moved to safety, it is workers on the front lines who make it happen – often putting their own fears and their personal lives on hold.

KIM MCILRAVEY, a care aide at Fischer Place, a long term care site attached to the 100 Mile Hospital, redeployed twice in sum mer 2021.

But accompanying residents during an evacuation isn’t something she’s always been able to do. In 2017, for example, Kim and her family had to evacuate their own home around the same time that residents at her work were evacuated.

In Prince George, Angie Bonazzo recalls working a 20-hour shift as a care aide to prepare for climate evacuees.

“I chose to not work anymore at that point because I had children to take care of,” she said, adding that she also had livestock that had to be relocated. Not working, she says, caused several months of financial strain. Then, in the fall, when the fire had passed and life was supposed to be back to normal, she had to go on sick leave.

“I think I had a nervous breakdown,” she says. “I was very anxious and I didn’t sleep very well. In that first year after the fire, every time I smelled smoke I would panic.”

Despite the hardship, Kim says the 2017 fires prepared her for the summer of 2021, when she redeployed to Salmon Arm and later to Williams Lake. Both times, she left her family back at home on evacuation alert, while she and her colleagues accom panied residents.

“We had a job to do but we did it with grace, we just knew we had to pull together and be there for each other, including our residents. It’s stressful for everybody, but we did a good job on keeping everybody calm and happy.”

Kim Mcilravey, a care aide at 100 Mile Hospital, says “in the first year after the fire, every time I smelled smoke I would panic.”

April Roberts PHOTO

Caelie Frampton

PHOTO

VINDRA DOSANJ works as a dietary aide at UBC Hospital. She’s been a member since 1986 and was part of the facilities subsector before her job was contracted out. Vindra will be able to retain the seniority and years of service that she had before being contracted out, as part of the returning in-house agreement.

LABOUR

News from here and around the world

A win for locked-out hotel workers

Hit hard by the pandemic, some Lower Mainland hospitality workers have won their long fight for recall rights, while others are still on the picket line

WHEN the pandemic hit, about 50,000 hospitality workers across B.C. were laid off.

In early 2021, the union repre senting 7,000 of those workers sounded an alarm by saying hotel layoffs turned into “mass firings.”

“Gradually, we started to see hotel employers taking advantage of the pandemic to permanently lay off long-term workers, instead of bringing them back to their jobs – even when business started to return,” says Stephanie Fung, a UNITE HERE Local 40 organizer.

Nearly 100 workers were ter minated at the Hilton Metrotown Hotel in Burnaby, and the rest were locked out for more than a year. The employer claimed staff were free to return, but the union says the offer was conditional on work ers giving up health and pension benefits, paid time off, and work load protections.

And at the Pacific Gateway Hotel in Richmond, 143 workers were laid off. When the hotel was designated as a COVID quarantine site, staff from Red Cross were brought in to operate it.

The employer argues that the collective agreement allows for lay offs in the case of reduction of work. But the union maintains that Red Cross staff took many jobs that union members could have contin ued to perform.

Workers at these hotels organized picket lines, petitions, boycotts and

VOICES

other actions over the pandemic, finding solidarity and support from other unions and organizations, including HEU, Richmond City Council and Burnaby City Hall.

A picket at the Vancouver air port convinced German airline Lufthansa to stop booking the Hilton Metrotown for their crew members.

On May 11, Hilton Metrotown workers won full recall rights for all terminated workers, and 98 per cent voted to ratify a new collec tive agreement. They also achieved wage increases, a special bonus,

secured health and pension ben efits, new safeguards for gratuities, daily cleaning and housekeeping protections, and stronger recall language for the future.

The Pacific Gateway hotel workers remain on strike, as the Guardian goes to print.

A third hotel, the luxury Pan Pacific Vancouver, was not union ized when layoffs began, but work ers voted to join UNITE HERE Local 40 soon after. Negotiations for a first collective agreement have been moving slowly, and three Labour Code violations have been

ruled against the employer by the B.C. Labour Relations Board.

In a report released last December, UNITE HERE Local 40 found the majority of their laidoff hotel workers are women, and many are women of colour.

“The Hilton Metrotown work ers sent a strong message to the entire hospitality industry in B.C. that workers aren’t going to just give up,” says Fung. “They’re going to fight back, and they’re going to make sure that no one is treated as if they’re disposable.”

LORETTA LAURIN

South Asian Canadians’ fight for justice

“ZINDABAD!” is often used as a political rallying cry of support in South Asian languages. It literally trans lates to “long live”. “Union Zindabad!” means “long live the union!”

Groundbreaking research conducted by the BC Labour Heritage Centre for the South Asian Canadian Legacy Project forced us to challenge beliefs and expose realities. We explored radical histories within the South Asian diaspora, including long fights for basic rights: to vote, own property, and respect.

In the early years of the 20th century, South Asian immigrants found few friends, including in the labour movement. This comes as a surprise to many in today’s unions, who believe we have always displayed solidarity across racial lines.

From its early exclusionary practices to a gradual recognition that racism is the boss’ tool to divide

workers, B.C.’s labour movement evolved over time to embrace equality.

During the 1940s, almost all South Asian Canadian workers in B.C. were employed in the forest industry. They became union members during the massive organizing drives of the International Woodworkers of America.

Support from unions for the South Asian com munity’s political goals was key to building a strong union that included all ethnicities.

South Asian Canadian union members are now dis persed across the labour movement, and hold leader ship positions.

The book Union Zindabad!: South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia is available online and in print: www.labourheritagecentre.ca/south-asian.

DONNA SACUTA, Executive Director of the BC Labour Heritage Centre

B.C.’s labour movement evolved over time to embrace equality

HOLDING THE LINE | HEU members stood in solidarity throughout the strike, shown here joining locked-out UNITE HERE Local 40 workers at a rally outside the Burnaby hotel in March.

Caelie Frampton

PHOTO

Labour taking on the giants

Unions are building steam in some workplaces that used to be seen as impossible to organize

ONLY 10 per cent of American workers belong to a union – half what the number was in the 1980s.

That decade saw an economic crisis and a swift decline in factory and industrial work – the steady, well-paid jobs that had powered U.S. labour.

The jobs that replaced them were largely in service and retail – traditionally considered tough sectors to unionize. Workers tend to be low-wage, mobile, and often young, job sites are smaller, and corporate employers work hard to stamp out any sign of “union talk.”

The 2021 CEO to Starbucks employee pay ratio was 1,579 to 1.

Today, many of these corpora tions are raking in record profits –2021 saw their pre-tax profits grow by 25 per cent, the largest increase in 46 years.

But a recent wave of grassroots organizing in these types of work places is giving fresh hope to the American labour movement.

Solidarity brewing

Starbucks presents its brand as progressive. They offer bene fits, make social issue statements, and call their baristas “partners.” But their reaction to the 177 – and

counting – U.S. Starbucks stores that have voted to unionize doesn’t match their carefully crafted image.

The National Labor Relations Board has brought 29 unfair labour practice charges against Starbucks for intimidating workers by closing down stores, targeting union sup porters, and surveilling and firing employees.

Starbucks have also threatened to withhold company-wide raises and benefits from unionized locations.

Despite this, workers have built a nationwide network to support and mentor each other. They share information, provide training, and prepare for union-busting together.

Their biggest strength, organiz ers say, is making personal connec tions in and between their tightknit workplaces.

Delivering a message

Amazon has many well-docu mented labour abuses, from short changing paycheques to denying bathroom breaks to having double the industry rate of serious work place injuries. And they spent 4.3 million in 2021 on anti-union con sultants to combat a handful of warehouse unionizing drives.

So, when workers in an Amazon warehouse in New York formed the independent Amazon Labor Union and won a majority vote to join, it was hailed as a tremendous win.

NEWSBITES

Amazon has fought back with a raft of legal challenges, objections and delays, and have been accused of illegally firing workers and call ing police on organizers.

The union forged ahead, trying to organize more warehouses as quickly as possible, but results so far are mixed. Faced with the power of one of the world’s largest compa nies, building public pressure and support may be the union’s most effective tactic.

Despite the groundswell, only one Starbucks store in North America – in Victoria, B.C. – has a collective agreement in place. Two other Canadian locations, in Surrey and Langley, have been cer tified, and several drives are under way in Alberta.

Labour experts say a tight job market, public outrage at record corporate profits, and the recent wave of social justice protests in the U.S. all contribute to this surge.

For better seniors’ care

The BC Health Coalition has launched Better Care for Seniors, a campaign to improve and expand publicly funded home care and end for-profit longterm care. The campaign launch featured B.C. Seniors’ Advocate Isobel Mackenzie and included seniors’ care workers and family members.

Better Care for Seniors is planning an accountability assembly in the fall, and launched a postcard action for people to share their stories about seniors’

care with the health minister. Visit bchealthcoalition.ca to learn more and send your postcard.

Victory upheld in Cambie Case

This July, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the B.C. Supreme Court’s September 2020 decision in the Cambie Surgeries Corporation case.

The Court found provisions of the Medicare Protection Act challenged by Cambie Surgeries are critical to a publicly funded system that delivers care based on need and not the ability to pay.

PARTNERS IN SOLIDARITY | Staff at a Buffalo, New York Starbucks celebrate their store’s pro-union vote in December 2021. Hundreds of other American stores have either voted to join or are petitioning for union elections.

Lindsay Dedario PHOTO

BREAKING GROUND | HEU president Barb Nederpel and financial secretary Betty Valenzuela joined Health Sciences Association president Kane Tse, B.C. Premier John Horgan and Fraser Health board member Jim Sinclair to welcome the start of construction on the redevelopment of Burnaby Hospital in May.

LAUNCHING A LOCAL WEBSITE

The Kamloops-Thompson local tackled the challenge of communicating with members by building its own website.

Ayse Dallaire, who works as a Virtual Care Coordinator at Royal Inland Hospital, initiated the website project in 2019 because she felt the local wasn’t reaching enough members through traditional means.

She says local activists use the website as a tool to engage members and point them to information.

“We direct people there when they’re looking for a shop steward or who’s on the executive,” says Dallaire. “The contact form allows us to forward the question or issue to the right person.

“We saw an uptake in the website when COVID hit. It was a really good way for us to stay in contact with members.”

“We’re reaching a younger generation,” she says. “That’s who’s coming on board in health care now, and we need to keep them engaged.”

Check out the Kamloops-Thompson website at heunion.wixsite.com/ktlheu.

A community connection

HEU member Maryann Pyne is demonstrating the power of engaging with community and answering the call to step into leadership.

As a scheduler with the PHSA local, Pyne manages the work schedules and rotations for nurses. She has been an HEU member for over a decade.

She recently decided to run for school board in the Fraser Valley, after being asked to join a slate with Team Surrey Schools. She says, “while I thought of a million reasons not to run, I thought of a few important reasons that I had to.”

Pyne came to Canada from Jamaica as a student. Then her children came as teenagers. “They went through many chal lenges, including a lack of understanding of them and the school system they grew up in,” she says.

A generation later she is witnessing the school experience of her grandchild, who was born in Surrey.

“You hear stories from parents and teachers about the lack of resources and the lack of diversity, even within the school board.” Pyne shared that there are many complexities in how her city has grown over time.

She credits her involvement in HEU with giving her the skills and confidence to run. “Not a lot of people vote for school trustees. And so my task of motivating people as an HEU site rep has prepared me for this work.”

As a member of the HEU Ethnic Diversity Standing Committee, Pyne holds a passion for equity.

“The sort of thing that we’re looking for in our schools is the same sort of thing that we’re looking for in our workspaces – for everyone to feel welcome, safe and included.” she says.

“The sort of thing that we’re looking for in our schools is the same sort of thing that we’re looking for in our workspaces — for everyone to feel welcome, safe and included.”

Her love of people motivated her to step out of her comfort zone. “It led me to being involved with HEU. That moved me to a place where when the opportunity to run was presented to me, and I saw that I could serve a larger community.

“Sometimes you may not necessarily know your purpose, but your purpose finds you.”

LORETTA LAURIN

They agreed with the 2020 decision that striking down these provisions would result in longer wait times for the majority of people who rely on public health care.

Despite these unsuccessful attempts, it is likely that Cambie Surgeries’ CEO Dr. Brian Day will take this case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

If it proceeds, HEU, along with other health care unions, patients, physicians and public health care advocacy groups, will continue to participate in this court case in defense of public health care.

Call to halt deportation of HEU member

HEU is calling on Immigration Canada to halt the deportation of a health care worker at Royal Columbian Hospital’s COVID ward.

Claudia Zamorano and her family applied for refugee status more than four years ago. In July their application was denied.

HEU, along with Sanctuary Health, are urging Canada to grant the family permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Member Maryann Pyne is riding her experience as a labour and community activist into municipal politics in her run for school board this fall. AFTER THE SHIFT

Joshua Berson

PHOTO

LORETTA LAURIN

A CALL FOR COMPASSION | HEU president Barb Nederpel joined a community rally in August to support member Claudia Zamorano and her family, who are facing deportation after their application for refugee status was denied.

Loretta

Laurin

PHOTO

Guardian search!

CAN YOU FIND:

Someone holding a coffee cup

Canadian Blood Services has the largest geographical range of any HEU local. It includes 285 members across the province, who work in a variety of settings to support the process of donating blood.

A cake

A cute dog

How many new members joined HEU so far this year?

HEU MEMBERS:

Tell us what page you found these on, and send us your answers to be entered to win a prize!!

Go to heu.org/coffeebreak and submit your answer online by November 15.

and deliver blood to hospitals. The job is rewarding. We’re saving lives.”

am a driver. We set up and take down mobile blood

Chris Dobbe

“I work as a donor care associate. I help the donors and take their blood. I love working with the donors and supporting their good deed.” – Jasvinder Singh

“I

Ronnie Seepaul

Wendy D photography

PHOTO

Wendy D photography

PHOTO

Wendy D photography

PHOTO

HEU PEOPLE

RETIREMENTS

After more than 35 years in health care, Barbara Christensen retired from G.F. Strong, where she worked as a therapy aide.

An HEU member since 1986, she started at Brock Fahrni, then worked at Shaughnessy Hospital, Vancouver General, and finally G.F. Strong, until retiring in May.

Barbara served as vice-chair, secretarytreasurer and chief shop steward. She attended many HEU conventions, workshops and rallies, and organized and participated in local union events.

She plans to do some quilting, take guitar and Spanish lessons, spend more time with her family, and travel to Nova Scotia and Mexico.

Long-time care aide Dorothy Nelson retired in May from Haro Park Centre, where she worked for 38 years.

Active in the union, she served her local in multiple positions, including warden, secretarytreasurer, chief shop steward and chair.

“I loved being a care aide and took pride in being a great one,” says Dorothy. “The love and appreciation from the residents when I helped them, was one of the things I liked most about my job.

In retirement, Dorothy plans to move to West Kelowna, and do lots of travelling.

Vera Robson retired in March after more than 20 years in health care. Vera worked at Bella Coola General Hospital (BCGH) as a medical records clerk. Previously, she worked as a dietary aide and in laundry services.

Generous with her big smile and shining warmth, Vera made a positive difference in patient and co-workers’ days.

Vera advocated tirelessly for the members of her team, and had great commitment to the union. She spent years as a shop steward, secretary-treasurer and vice-chair, as well as serving on the environmental committee.

In retirement, Vera plans to continue selling real estate, her role as a justice of the peace, and spending time with family. She looks forward to not having an early curfew.

In April, Deborah Shelton retired from North Island Hospital – Comox Valley, where she worked for 29 years as a supervisor in food services.

“I will miss my work family,” says Deborah. “They supported and encouraged me daily, and showed me how to be a good leader. They came to work every day ready to take care of each other and the patients. They were a special team.”

Retirement plans include spending more quality time with her grandchildren and family.

IN MEMORIAM

Long-time activist Kevin Swetlishoff passed away this May. He was an HEU member for 34 years, working as a cook at Kelowna General Hospital, and then Vernon Jubilee Hospital, where he participated in the development and implementation of the new production kitchen.

Kevin supported his local by being on the Kelowna executive, and served as chief shop steward. He attended local meetings, was a staunch HEU advocate, and became fully engaged after attending HEU summer school in 1993.

His co-workers say, “Kevin was loved by many – always positive and smiling, making an instant impression on anyone he met.”

Joanne Foote passed away in July, leaving a legacy of activism and commitment to workers’ rights and equity throughout her more than 30 years as an HEU member.

Joanne first served as a local executive and shop steward at Holyrood Manor in Maple Ridge, where she was an activity worker. She later served several terms on the Provincial Executive, and was a member of HEU’s Indigenous Peoples’ Standing Committee.

Many recall, too, her sense of humour, and her laughter and joyous spirit.

A band member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation in Rama, Ontario, Joanne grew up in Sudbury. She retired in 2017, and recently returned to Ontario to live in her home community. She will be deeply missed by many.

David Ridley, longtime HEU activist and former provincial executive member, passed away in August.

David worked as a biomed tech at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. He is remembered as a determined and witty rabble rouser. He was a long-time activist in the Royal Jubilee Local and was first elected to the union’s provincial executive in 1992.

In 1994, he was elected first vicepresident, and re-elected to that position three more times. He never passed up a chance to encourage, mentor and share a laugh with HEU members.

He was a labour representative on the Capital Region Health Board for several years, always active in community issues, and well known in the Lake Cowichan area.

members in 296 locals

Equity matters

Did you know that HEU has six equity standing committees? Working with HEU’s equity officers, they provide outreach and advocacy to HEU members, and work in solidarity with other social justice groups.

To learn more, call 1.800.663.5813 to speak with Equity Officers Sharryn Modder and Jennifer Efting.

Ethnic Diversity • Indigenous Peoples

Pink Triangle • People with Disabilities • 2-Spirit, Women and Non-Binary • Young Workers

MOVED? Please notify us of your change of address online: www.heu.org/change-contact-information

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES’ UNION

Guardian

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

EDITOR

Caelie Frampton

MANAGING EDITOR Elaine Littmann

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Brenda Whitehall

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elaine Happer

PRINTING Mitchell Press

The Guardian is published on behalf of HEU’s Provincial Executive, under the direction of the editorial committee: Meena Brisard, Barb Nederpel, Betty Valenzuela, Bill McMullan, Charlotte Millington, Erica Carr, Talitha Dekker

HEU is a member of the Canadian Association of Labour Media

PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE

BARB NEDERPEL President MEENA BRISARD Secretary-Business Manager

BETTY VALENZUELA Financial Secretary

BILL MCMULLAN 1st Vice-President

CHARLOTTE MILLINGTON 2nd Vice-President

ERICA CARR 3rd Vice-President

TALITHA DEKKER Senior Trustee

CATHERINE BLACK Trustee

BONNIE HAMMERMEISTER Regional Vice-President Fraser

SCOTT MCKAY

Regional Vice-President Fraser

MARK WILLIAMS Regional Vice-President Fraser

HEIDI COLLINS Regional Vice-President Interior

BARB SHUKIN Regional Vice-President Interior

MONICA THIESSEN Regional Vice-President Interior

KAREN MCVEIGH Regional Vice-President Vancouver Coastal

MARIA LUGS

Regional Vice-President Vancouver Coastal

LOUELLA VINCENT Regional Vice-President Vancouver Coastal

LISA CREMA Regional Vice-President North

ANGELA SHARF Regional Vice-President North

PHIL HENDERSON Regional Vice-President Vancouver Island

IAN SMITH Regional Vice-President Vancouver Island LISA KREUT First Alternate Provincial Executive

HEU OFFICES

PROVINCIAL OFFICE 5000 North Fraser Way Burnaby V5J 5M3 604-438-5000 1-800-663-5813

EMAIL heu@heu.org WEB www.heu.org

REGIONAL OFFICES

Vancouver Island

VICTORIA 201-780 Tolmie Avenue Victoria V8X 3W4 250-480-0533 1-800-742-8001

COMOX 6-204 North Island Highway Courtenay, V9N 3P1 250-331-0368 1-800-624-9940

Interior region

KELOWNA 250-1815 Kirschner Road Kelowna V1Y 4N7 250-765-8838 1-800-219-9699

NELSON 745 Baker St. Nelson V1L 4J5 250-354-4466 1-800-437-9877

NORTHERN 1197 Third Ave. Prince George V2L 3E4 250-564-2102 1-800-663-6539