6-18-07, 10:04 am

Catching everyone by surprise, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on June 8 that sections of Bill 29, the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act passed by the Campbell Liberal government in 2002, violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The ruling extends the freedom of association provision of the Charter to include the right to free collective bargaining, by striking down sections of Bill 29 which restricted and gutted the bargaining rights of health care workers.

The Hospital Employees Union (HEU) called it 'a decision that has widespread implications for unions across the country.'

The Court gave the B.C. government one year to bring the legislation into compliance with the Charter. But HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy said the crisis created by Bill 29 in health care should not be allowed to continue one day longer.

'The verdict has been in on Bill 29 for the last five years - it's a bad law that's wreaked havoc in health care,' said Darcy. 'Hundreds of workers are currently facing termination in long‑term care facilities as a result of this legislation. In the interests of the continuity of care for seniors and fairness to workers we're demanding the government declare an immediate moratorium on these layoffs.'

BC Nurses' Union president Debra McPherson said the decision 'restores important collective bargaining rights to health care workers regarding protection against layoffs and contracting out. Governments can no longer unilaterally rip up collective agreements in order to promote a privatization agenda that cuts services to the public and erodes employees' living standards. And for the first time it recognizes that collective bargaining is a right of all Canadians protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.'

Up to 8,000 health care workers were fired in the B.C. Liberal government's first term as a result of Bill 29, which facilitated the most extensive privatization of health services in Canada.

Cleaning, dietary and other hospital support services in the province's largest population centres were contracted out to multinational corporations which in turn slashed wages by half causing high staff turnover and undermining service quality.

The legislation has also encouraged the chronic flipping of commercial contracts between long‑term care operators and their sub‑contractors as they seek to undermine collective bargaining and keep wages low.

Health unions led by HEU, BCNU and BC Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU) launched their charter challenge in 2002.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court found that sections of Bill 29 dealing with the elimination of contract protections against contracting out and the rights of senior employees to bump more junior employees in the event of a reduction in the workforce interfered with the collective bargaining process.

Earlier, the B.C. Supreme Court and the Appeal Court of B.C. ruled against the unions, but the Supreme Court heard an appeal in February 2006.

The June 8 ruling came a week after 450 aides who provide personal care for seniors at three taxpayer‑funded facilities in the Lower Mainland were given termination notices.

The notices were handed out by Simpe Q Care Inc. after it abandoned its commercial contracts with long‑term care operators in North Vancouver, Vancouver and Coquitlam. Just days earlier, the HEU, which represents the workers, had applied to the Labour Relations Board for mediation to assist in reaching a first collective agreement with the company.

Earlier in May, 168 front‑line care staff were fired at Nanaimo Seniors Village by another sub‑contractor just weeks after a first collective agreement was signed. It was the third time workers at that facility had been fired in three years.

HEU assistant secretary‑business manager Zorica Bosancic said that government labour laws giving special treatment to companies in taxpayer‑supported care facilities have created a near‑constant state of chaos in seniors' care, as contracts are flipped to bust union contracts and keep wages low.

'The Campbell government has handed these for‑profit companies license to make a quick buck off publicly‑supported seniors' care,' said Bosancic. 'But it's seniors and their caregivers who will pay the highest price. The close personal bonds that are critical to good care will be sacrificed.'

Simpe Q is one of many sub‑contractors which sprung up in the wake of Bill 29 and Bill 94, a 2003 law that further expanded the exemptions of health care workers from key B.C. Labour Code provisions.

The termination notices issued by Simpe Q will take effect on September 30. The care aides work at North Vancouver's Inglewood Care Centre, Vancouver's Windermere Care Centre and Coquitlam's Dufferin Care Centre.

(With files from the HEU website, www.heu.org)

From People's Voice