To know where you’re going, it helps to know where you’ve been.
At HEU our roots run deep.
Our union is built on 80 years of our hard-working members bargaining tough contracts, opposing unjust laws, pushing back against government cuts that target working people, and speaking out for public health care.
And above all, fighting for decent working and caring conditions — just like we do today.
HEU was formed in 1944, with 400 members in one hospital. The Canadian labour movement was in its earliest days. B.C. had only recently passed a law that gave unions full rights to organize and represent workers.
Today we have more than 60,000 members in every acute care facility in B.C., in the community, and in more than 200 longterm care facilities.
This book and poster series captures only a few of the many stories, struggles and landmark events along the way.
We didn't win every battle, but we took on every fight.
And as we celebrate our 80th year, let’s take inspiration from the generations of working people who came before us, and pave the way for the best possible future for us all.
“They tried lots of times to try to fire him, and it never worked. The only thing he could be accused of was going in the halls and collecting union dues. That was against the law.”
Organizer Joan Brimacombe, talking about HEU’s first president Alex Paterson
Pulling together in tough times
THE GREAT DEPRESSION of the 1930s brought hard times for Canadian workers. With unemployment rates as high as 30 per cent, people with jobs were considered lucky – and easily replaceable.
Hospitals at that time were privately run, or funded by charities or city councils. Hours were long and pay was meagre, with no formal sick leave, time off, or job protection.
Joan Brimacombe worked in the laundry at Vancouver General Hospital in 1935. “Before the union we worked ten hours a day, and if they felt like giving us half a day off we got it,” she said. “If they didn’t feel like it, well to heck with you.”
There was no protection for union supporters, either. Workers caught “talking union” could be fired on the spot.
But organizers found ways.
Early whispered conversations took place in tiny groups in the dim, cement-floored, basement lunchroom, or even supply closets, with a secret code to warn each other of a manager approaching.
In 1936 two unions were formed at Vancouver General – one for men and one for women. At that time men and women worked different jobs, and the “women’s jobs” got lower pay. But they held joint bargaining meetings, and won a number of improvements, like a meal allowance, death benefits, and small wage increases.
In 1943, changes to B.C.’s labour legislation finally legalized union affiliation, and recognized unions as legitimate bargaining agents for employees.
A year later, the two unions merged to found the Hospital Employees’ Federal Union, Local 180 – and HEU’s story begins.
1936
First unions are organized at Vancouver General Hospital – one for women, one for men.
HEU activist and staffperson Mary Black.
1943
The new B.C. Labour Act recognizes unions as legitimate bargaining agents for workers.
1944
The two VGH unions merge to form Hospital Employees’ Federal Union, Local 180.
1949
B.C. Hospital Insurance Act sets province-wide standard for funding.
1951
HEU holds its first convention.
1953
HEU embarks on a job classification project to develop consistent job descriptions and pay rates.
1954
HEU now has organized members in 19 hospitals.
Union organizer
with friends on the roof of VGH.
1956
HEU joins the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).
1956
HEU bargains employer-paid medical coverage for its members.
Joan Brimacombe (centre)
First HEU president Alex Paterson (on right) and financial secretary Bill Black (left).
“We are all in this world together, and the only test of our character that matters is how we look after the least fortunate among us.”
Tommy Douglas, Saskatchewan premier and founder of Medicare
Building our bargaining power
HEU’S GROWTH IN THE 1960s was connected to a historic Canadian event – the introduction of universal health care.
Medicare led to expansion of hospitals, and construction of new ones. More health care workers were hired, and HEU gained even more bargaining power.
At HEU’s 1960 convention, delegates were told, “more hospitals have been organized in B.C. than in all other Canadian provinces combined!” And this number would only grow.
The union knew it was time to bargain a common collective agreement for all its members.
Public medical insurance was introduced in Saskatchewan by Premier Tommy Douglas. Although it was opposed by the Canadian Medical Association — there was even a three-week doctors’ strike in 1962 — it proved popular with voters, and got strong support from HEU and other unions.
Access to health care was seen as an important step to creating a more equitable society, and Canadians agreed.
In 1966 the federal government passed the Medical Care Act, with the plan implemented nationwide in 1968.
At that time, HEU members were in 63 hospitals around the province, under different collective agreements.
Bargaining individual contracts was a lot of work for the union. Workers in rural communities and smaller facilities had less bargaining power, and hospitals were run by a mix of charitable societies, municipal governments and private business.
“We can no longer afford the luxury of little individual autonomous groups throughout the province deciding their own destiny,” HEU secretary-business manager Bill Black declared in 1960. “This is a case of the strong helping the weak... we must act as one.”
In 1968 HEU achieved its goal, bargaining the trailblazing Provincial Master Agreement. It provided standard working conditions, wages and benefits for members in all unionized hospitals in B.C.
This contract was the foundation of today’s powerful Facilities Bargaining Association agreement, that covers 75 per cent of HEU members.
1958
The HEU Guardian newspaper is first published.
1961
HEU starts negotiating regional contracts for groups of hospitals around B.C.
1963
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) forms with HEU as a member.
Politician Tommy Douglas led the fight for Medicare for all Canadians.
A night out with the Vancouver General local bowling league.
1966
The Canadian government introduces the Medical Care Act public insurance plan, which becomes law in 1968.
1968
HEU now has members in 55 hospitals around B.C.
1968
HEU negotiates the Master Agreement, its first province-wide standard collective agreement.
1969
Health employers form the B.C. Hospitals Association to bargain as a group with HEU.
“I told my supervisor I was going to be married. She said, “Oh well then, you’ll have to quit.” I already knew I’d have to quit, but she was so nasty when she said that.”
Gladys Paterson, 1940, Vancouver General Hospital
Proving the value of “women’s work”
BY
1975,
HALF OF CANADIAN WOMEN
were in the labour force. But working women on average earned 60 per cent of what men made.
The problem was that jobs considered “women’s work” were usually lowerpaid, even when they required levels of skill, effort and responsibility similar to “men’s jobs.”
HEU’s campaign for “equal pay for work of equal value” — now known as pay equity — set out to make change.
In the hospital in Kimberley B.C., practical nurses were paid $144 less per month than male orderlies, even though many nurses had a diploma, while orderlies were trained on the job.
Bernice Gehring, a practical nurse at Maple Ridge Hospital, helped blaze the trail. She travelled B.C. on behalf of the union, testifying at provincial hearings.
HEU filed more than 600 human rights cases alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, and won arbitrations at nine hospitals.
A successful complaint on behalf of radiology attendants at Vancouver General Hospital won them big wage hikes.
And the practical nurses in Kimberley and other B.C. hospitals got the raises they deserved.
In 1973, the B.C. NDP government negotiated an agreement with HEU that saw 8,400 members receive “anti-discrimination” pay adjustments, and committed to “eliminating discrimination in all its job forms.”
Through job action in 1992, HEU finally won pay equity language in its collective agreement. Targets were established, and annual adjustments worth hundreds of millions went to HEU members.
The B.C. Liberal government set progress back in the 2000s when thousands of HEU members, mostly women and racialized workers in food services, housekeeping and laundry, saw their jobs contracted out to private companies, and health care wages were cut across the board.
In 2022, HEU bargained wage review language into its Facilities Bargaining Association agreement, to regain ground lost over the last 20 years. In this first round, $15.64 million was allocated for interim wage increases, with lower-wage classifications a priority.
The principle of pay equity remains one of HEU’s most important values, and is central to our fight for economic justice.
1970
HEU disaffiliates from CUPE over internal disputes, and is forced to withdraw from the B.C. Fed and the CLC.
1970
The ruling Social Credit provincial government demands hospitals cut staff and services to offset cost of HEU wage increases.
1970
HEU pickets hospitals for the first time, protesting government cuts to hospital funding.
1971
HEU’s first strike. Clerical workers at a Powell River medical clinic are out 14 months for a first contract. It ends, as employer refuses to recognize the union.
1971
Paramedical staff at hospitals apply to the Labour Relations Board to form their own union, the Health Sciences Association.
Delegates to HEU’s first private hospital (nursing home) Wage Policy Conference in 1977.
1971
HEU pledges to tackle wage discrimination against women workers and begins a pay equity campaign.
1972
NDP wins provincial election, ending 20 years of Social Credit rule. New law allows arbitration in bargaining, and unions can certify by signing up a majority.
1974
HEU votes to dedicate staff and financial resources to organizing the long-term care sector.
1975
Provincial election returns Social Credit party to power.
1975
Federal government brings in wage controls to fight inflation, and rolls back HEU’s negotiated wages by six per cent.
“Our one exhibit [at the arbitration] was the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible. I remember Blair saying that they would have to wait for the next life to get their reward.”
Ray McCready, HEU secretary-business manager
One for all and all for one
JOB ACTIONS are often about contract negotiations, but sometimes HEU members come together to support an injustice against their fellow workers.
In 1973, workers at Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace swiftly rose up to advocate for a hospital janitor, Douglas Pigeau, who had been fired by an anti-union administrator.
Pigeau, who was deaf and non-speaking, had worked at the hospital for five years. He and his co-workers had developed alternative ways of communicating, and he had their respect and support.
When the news of his firing spread, hospital workers were outraged.
There had been tensions between administration and Pigeau, who had filed complaints about excessive workload, and had also received warnings about signing out early.
But firing him, his co-workers believed, was very unfair.
So 46 HEU members staged a two-day sit-in, and refused to work until the hospital reinstated Pigeau.
The case went to arbitration. The arbitrator ultimately decided in support of reinstating Pigeau, and urged the employer to “expend the substantial effort to do all that can reasonably and properly be done” to accommodate Pigeau in the workplace.
But his co-workers, the abritrator decreed, would not be compensated for the two days of lost work.
Ray McCready, HEU’s secretary-business manager, argued in the hearing that members had jeopardized their jobs to help a fellow employee. But, he said, “I remember [the arbitrator] saying they would have to wait for the next life to get their reward.”
1976
HEU’s first provincewide strike at 99 hospitals lasts three weeks, before a back-to-work order is issued.
1978
B.C. government introduces a universal longterm care program, standardizing funding for care and wages.
1981
Workers at Windermere longterm care home go on strike for four months fighting wage discrimination.
1981
BC Nurses’ Union founded as breakaway group from the Registered Nurses Association.
1983
Social Credit is re-elected, rolls back union seniority and bargaining rights, repeals the Human Rights Act and delivers massive cuts to health care, education and social services.
The labour movement unites to form Operation Solidarity, supported by community groups. 50,000 rally in Vancouver to oppose the government’s cuts.
1983
By 1983, HEU has organized 77 residential care facilities. About 70 per cent of the sector is now unionized.
1984
HEU re-affiliates with CUPE, retaining its own structure and independence, and rejoins the CLC and B.C. Fed.
1985
650 HEU members in 14 private sector long-term care sites go on a 45-day strike to demand better working conditions and comparability with public sector.
“I guess they think we will give up and get other jobs, and that there are always more of us. But they are wrong.”
Lolita Paco, dining room hostess at Windermere Lodge
A shocking injustice in seniors care
ONE OF HEU’S LONGEST STRIKE actions was at a private seniors’ care home in 1981. A group of workers at Windermere Lodge in Vancouver had been fighting for almost two years to achieve their first collective agreement.
But when the employer – one of Canada’s biggest real estate corporations — refused to even consider HEU’s standard contract, the workers took action.
Besides the union-busting tactics and low wages at Windermere, something even more outrageous was going on: the employer was paying higher wages to white workers doing the same jobs as recent immigrants, mostly women from the Philippines, Fiji, China and Portugal.
For four months, members maintained a continuous 24-hour strike outside the care home. And the union and other members stepped up.
HEU locals contributed $44,000 to supplement daily strike pay, and they helped cover the picket line during the weekly strike meetings.
Windermere workers stood strong. Dietary worker Heddy Vasquez had to get a second job washing dishes to pay her rent, but she put in six hours on the picket line after work.
“If we want a pay increase inside, we have to sacrifice outside, rain or shine,” she said.
The strike was a victory for the workers, and a step forward for the underpaid seniors’ care sector. The new agreement nearly doubled wages, brought an end to race-based wage discrimination, introduced benefits for the first time, and extended vacation entitlements beyond provincial minimums.
“Ecstatic” was how local chair Edna Moran described her reaction to the win.
“I’m very proud of all the members who stuck it out. We now realize it was worth the fight,” she said.
8,000 HEU members march in Vancouver to kick off province-wide continuous job action in support of a new contract.
1986
Bargaining is tough, but HEU manages to maintain a “no concessions” contract in this round.
1986
Federally, the Canada Health Act becomes law, effectively banning extra-billing by doctors and hospitals.
1987
Social Credit government passes Bill 19, giving government power to intervene in any labour negotiations, and to impose agreements.
1988
HEU changes its structure to create locals, putting more power in the hands of members. Before 1988, locals were referred to as “units.”
1989
HEU members go on strike for 17 days during bargaining.
1991
NDP comes to power in B.C. and will govern for the next 10 years.
1991
NDP creates regional health boards and community health councils to manage services and budgets.
1991
In 1991, HEU wins its lawsuit against the Medical Services Commission for denying benefits to the same-sex partner of a union steward.
1992
8,000 HEU members march in Vancouver to kick off province-wide continuous job action in support of a new contract.
1992
HEU finally wins pay equity language in its collective agreement.
“Respect for the individual person means respect for the unique and diverse character of every human person.”
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne Rowles
“Somebody has to do it.”
IN 1988, HEU MEMBER Tim Knodel was caring for his terminally ill partner, Ray Garneau. They were both licensed practical nurses at Shaughnessy Hospital, but as Garneau’s health failed, he exhausted his sick leave and was left without benefits.
Knodel applied to add Garneau to his provincial medical services plan as a dependent spouse – and was denied.
Spouses, according to the B.C. Medical Services Commission, could only be opposite-sex couples.
HEU had bargained same-sex benefits into its 1989 collective agreement, but that only applied to private benefits insurers – not the public medical plan.
So HEU backed a historic lawsuit to challenge the decision. Even though his partner had since died, Knodel made the decision to carry the case forward to court, saying “somebody has to do it and it might as well be me.”
Knodel’s petition argued that the couple had lived together, travelled, shared finances, and met the definition of typical spouses – and that denying benefits was discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Supreme Court agreed, saying the ruling violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 1991, Medical Services was ordered to recognize same-sex couples as “spouses” and grant them medical coverage –the first province in Canada to do so.
It was a ruling that benefited the lives of many Canadians by making same-sex partners eligible for medical, dental and life insurance benefits, and expanding the definition of family.
It was a hard choice for Knodel to pursue the case – he said his and his late partner’s families weren’t comfortable with the public attention. But he found support from co-workers and friends.
“It has been stressful, but I’ve had a lot of help and I hope others will benefit from this experience.”
1993
HEU negotiates groundbreaking Health Labour Accord, leading to a shorter workweek, retraining for displaced workers and other job security provisions.
1994
HEU members establish four equity caucuses, that become standing committees at the 1996 convention.
1996
NDP government consolidates regional health boards into five regional health authorities.
1999
Community Social Services members put their demands on the map with a high profile 12-week strike.
1999
Key HEU win in the Supreme Court establishes the right to certify health care workers on First Nations lands.
2001
BC Liberals led by Gordon Campbell win the provincial election.
2002
Liberals pass Bill 29, allowing hospital support services workers’ jobs to be privatized. HEU members campaign hard against privatization, program cuts and facility closures.
2002
HEU launches legal challenge against Bill 29.
2004
HEU launches a province-wide strike over government’s demands for wage cuts and further privatization. HEU members ordered back to work, strike ends with agreement to limit job losses.
2005
Contracted Sodexo workers maintain a 51-day strike to win a first agreement.
“Me, I don’t like being told that I’m not worthy of a decent life. So I am going to fight.”
Karen Lahey, HEU Housekeeper
Ripping up the collective agreement
When the B.C. Liberal government won the 2001 election, HEU members knew times were about to get tough.
The Liberals were determined to privatize public services, and had health care in their sights. HEU’s hard-won job security provisions, like the no contracting-out clause in our contract, stood in their way.
In a pre-election interview, B.C. Liberal leader Gordon Campbell told members not to worry. “We recognize the importance of HEU workers to the public health care system,” he said.
Then his party won.
Less than a year later, they passed a law – Bill 29. It allowed health authorities to lay off thousands of support workers – food services, housekeepers and laundry — and bring in private companies.
HEU’s collective agreement was ripped apart.
The new jobs reduced wages and eliminated benefits. HEU re-organized these workers into new locals, but bargaining with global corporations like Compass, Aramark and Sodexo made it hard to regain ground.
Protests and marches were held around B.C. There was talk of a general strike. It was an attack on unions and public services, with HEU the first target.
When 2004 bargaining opened, the employer demanded $750 million in concessions. HEU’s 40,000-strong membership walked out.
Back-to-work legislation was passed three days later. Bill 37 prohibited picketing and imposed a contract containing a 15 per cent wage rollback.
But HEU members stayed out.
And over the next days, an estimated 30,000 workers across B.C. – from schools and ferries to sawmills and grocery stores — struck in support.
But under threat of millions in fines to the union for disobeying the back-to-work order, HEU leaders, with support from the labour movement, came to an agreement. The new contract limited further contracting-out in hospitals, but included the 15 per cent cut.
Members were devastated and furious, but many turned their anger into powerful activism. It was a decade of turmoil and challenges for the union, and upheaval and instability in health care and long-term care, with funding cuts and facility closures.
The pride and resilience of HEU’s members always shone through – like housekeeper Deanna Graham.
“I am not an overpaid cleaning lady pushing a broom. I am a dedicated employee, a team player, a loving mother, and a compassionate human being.”
2007
Supreme Court rules key provisions of Bill 29 violated the constitutional rights of HEU members, establishing collective bargaining as a charter-protected right.
2007
HEU launches the “Living Wage” Campaign.
2013
HEU holds its inaugural First Nations Bargaining Conference in Prince Rupert.
2015
After experiencing five contract flips in a dozen years, HEU members at Inglewood Care Centre finally secure seniority rights.
After a five-year legal challenge led by HEU, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled key provisions of Bill 29 violated the constitutional rights of HEU members. The decision also established collective bargaining as a charterprotected right for all Canadians.
2016
HEU launches its “United for Fairness” campaign to build solidarity for upcoming bargaining for contracted support service workers.
2017
NDP returns to power in B.C.
2018
NDP government repeals Bill 29 and Bill 94.
2019
HEU launches its “Make it Public” campaign to end privatization in hospitals.
“After 16 years, this is a really big victory. Today’s announcement works like a medicine on our wounds.”
Harjeet Dhami, housekeeper and HEU organizer
“I never thought this day would come.”
AT THE 2018 HEU convention, something extraordinary happened.
Rumours had been swirling that the newly-elected NDP government was about to make a major health care announcement. On November 8, a live feed from the B.C. Legislature appeared on convention screens. The more than 600 delegates fell silent.
They watched MLAs vote to pass the Health Care Statutes Repeal Act. In less than a minute, Bill 29 and Bill 94 were struck down.
There was thunderous applause. Tears. Trembling voices, as members took the floor to speak. “I never thought this day would come,” they said. “For myself, I have gotten some justice.” And, “I wish all my co-workers who suffered at that time were here today.”
The laws were passed 16 years earlier, by the B.C. Liberal government. But HEU members were still living with the impact.
They remembered how Bill 29 stripped job security provisions from their collective agreement, and led to the firing of thousands of skilled and experienced hospital workers.
They saw the harm Bill 94 inflicted on long-term care, allowing staff at private facilities to be fired each time a contract was “flipped” to another company. Workers lost their jobs, their union representation, and their seniority – and frail seniors lost their familiar caregivers.
Members and organizers had spent 16 years fighting, organizing and re-organizing contracted workers, and hammering out new agreements with corporate giants — including a 51-day strike to gain a first contract with Sodexo.
With the laws finally repealed, HEU launched their “Make it Public” campaign, determined to reverse hospital contracting-out entirely –something few unions had ever achieved.
In 2021, the government announced it was ending contracting out in hospitals. Over the next two years, they ended 21 contracts with multinational corporations. Hospital housekeepers, dietary workers and security officers were finally back in-house.
HEU member Catalina Samson was there in 2004, when both her jobs were contracted out, and her wage dropped from $18 an hour to $10. And she was still there fighting when the announcement came.
“I’m close to retirement and people ask, why do you stay? I stay because I know we can make things better for those who come behind us. For the people who will need to do this job in the future.”
2020
Decade-long legal case against private Cambie Clinic ends with court upholding public health care.
2020
The COVID-19 pandemic emergency is declared.
To reduce COVID transmission, the Single-Site Order limits health care workers to working at only one long-term care, assisted living, or mental health facility.
A second public health order establishes “wage-levelling” to subsidize wages in private long-term care to the same levels as facilities subsector.
2021
Government announces the end of contracting out in hospitals, returning 5,000 jobs to the health authorities.
2022
HEU members vote to add six Diversity Vice-President seats to the Provincial Executive.
2023
Privatized hospital security officer positions brought back under the health authority.
2024
HEU turns 80!
The Hospital Employees’ Union celebrates 80 years!
This anniversary book and poster series captures eight stories of courage, hard work and solidarity, throughout our eight decades of standing up for the rights of working people.
Behind every achievement, then and now, are thousands of HEU members whose determination, sacrifice and collective action made it happen.
