With memories of the BCGEU strike still fresh in the minds of British Columbians, more public sector job action could be on the horizon as the province’s nurses prepare to hold a strike vote.
It was a show of force for the BC Nurses’ Union Thursday as 500-plus health-care workers rallied in Downtown Vancouver ahead of a strike vote that could give the union legal authority to initiate province-wide job action.
“This is the first time in over 25 years that we’ve had to take this extraordinary step,” said Adriane Gear, president of the British Columbia Nurses’ Union (BCNU).
Premier David Eby says he’s confident a deal will be struck, but Gear says a lot of ground still needs to be covered.
“Frankly, the last six months at the bargaining table has not been fruitful.”
“We have a number of issues, in terms of addressing violence, other health and safety, our benefits are important to us.”
It comes after the union says negotiations with its employer, the provincially managed Health Employers’ Association of BC, reached an impasse on April 20.
This is the latest labour strife to threaten B.C. following the BCGEU strike that caused significant disruption to provincial operations in the fall and negotiations with teachers that got uncomfortably close to falling apart.
The province’s 911 dispatchers are also poised to vote on strike action in Mid-May.
Kendra Strauss is an expert in labour relations at Simon Fraser University – she says that while the BC NDP has traditionally been a pro-union party, budgetary constraints are forcing them to play hardball at the bargaining table.
“It’s a difficult kind of tightrope for the government to walk,” says Strauss.
“I think they are trying to reconcile two very difficult positions. Quite rightly, I think the nurses feel they are caught in the middle of that.”
Strauss stressed that because nursing is an essential service. There’s no risk of hospitals or clinics closing.
Gear confirmed that essential staffing levels will be maintained in the event of a strike and striking would only be a last resort.
“We would never start at a place of withdrawing labour. There’s other job action that we could take. Our goal is to not impact patient care. We want to cause pressure on the employers to get them to the table with an adjusted attitude,” said Gear.
B.C.’s nurses will be voting on whether to approve a strike mandate from May 8 to 11.