This column has been hard on the B.C. NDP governmentsa国际传媒檚 favours to big labour in recent weeks.
Their union monopoly on public construction is a discriminatory sell-out that will be costing taxpayers for years to come, and the likely elimination of secret ballot votes is another bid to protect unions that are dwindling away in todaysa国际传媒檚 global economy.
But this week Isa国际传媒檒l offer my appreciation to Health Minister Adrian Dix, who has won a battle he has been fighting for more than a decade, restoring union successor rights for employees of senior care homes and related jobs. This is to end sa国际传媒渃ontract flipping,sa国际传媒� where one contractor takes over from another and gets out from under the union agreement, usually with the Hospital Employeessa国际传媒� Union or the B.C. Government Employeessa国际传媒� Union.
Heresa国际传媒檚 how BCGEU president Stephanie Smith explained the problem that has plagued one of the lowest-wage, female-dominated employment groups in the province since 2002:
sa国际传媒淭he practice of contract flipping typically involves mass layoffs and forces workers to re-apply for jobs that they have, in many cases, already been performing for years. When this occurs, existing collective agreements and union representation are not carried over, and contracts offered by the new service provider typically offer lower wages, reduced benefits and weakened rights for employees. In short, contract flipping is a strategy for suppressing wages and weakening employee rights in the workplace.sa国际传媒�
Dix introduced legislation last week to repeal two provisions that survived the B.C. Liberal governmentsa国际传媒檚 long court battle with the HEU, making employees sa国际传媒渟econd class citizenssa国际传媒� as contract-flipping continued into this year.
sa国际传媒淭here are care homes such as Inglewood on the North Shore and Nanaimo Seniors Village that have seen their contracts flipped multiple times,sa国际传媒� Dix said. sa国际传媒淚n other words, work is contracted out, the workers come together, they organize a union, they negotiate with the employer, in this case the contractor. Then the contractor is changed, salaries are reduced and they have to go through the process again and again and again.sa国际传媒�
I recall the bitter debate when this move was made by a newly elected Gordon Campbell government with an overwhelming mandate, the NDP reduced to two East Vancouver seats. One B.C. Liberal MLA noted that under generous contracts signed with the previous NDP government, an HEU employee was entitled to a paid day off to take his or her dog to the veterinarian.
No one at that time anticipated the repeated use of contract flipping in senior care homes, just as no one anticipated the sale of Retirement Concepts, a Vancouver-based chain of contract care homes, to a state-linked Chinese company thatsa国际传媒檚 acquiring prime real estate around the world.
What the Campbell government should have seen coming was that this crackdown on a ballooning health care budget came at the worst possible time for senior care. Baby boomers are stepping down, and breaking down, in huge numbers, and there arensa国际传媒檛 enough people who will take care of them under the working conditions they face.
Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie put numbers to it in B.C.sa国际传媒檚 first comprehensive survey of seniors homes last year. It showed that most donsa国际传媒檛 meet the provincesa国际传媒檚 standard of just over three hours care per resident, per day. Help in the bathroom is one of the biggest shortages, and Dix estimates that another 900 care aides are needed to reach the standard.
Not enough people are willing to do this job, and long-term workers are retiring themselves.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press Media. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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