British Columbia Federation of Labour

Opinion-Editorial
By Jim Sinclair, President, B.C. Federation of Labour

June 12, 2007

Re: Courts say stop the firings, Campbell says no

To most it would appear simple enough. The highest court in the land finds you guilty of breaking the law. You would immediately cease the illegal actions. Then you would sit down with the people you wronged and make it right. It's clear enough for the most British Columbian to understand, but apparently not for Gordon Campbell.

Today hundreds of healthcare workers in our hospitals and seniors' care homes are still facing the firing line. Any hopes that justice might prevail after the June 8th Supreme Court decision were quickly dashed by the premier who, despite this obvious opportunity to begin righting past wrongs, announced that the firings would proceed as scheduled.

The history is well known. Five years ago Campbell's government passed Bill 29, tearing up the contracts of more than 80,000 healthcare workers. The aim was simple. The agreements, which included basic job security language, stood in the way of his plans to privatize health care on a massive scale. The result was dramatic --- the largest firing of women workers in Canadian history. More than 8,000 workers lost decent, family-supporting jobs with pensions and other critical benefits. The work was handed over to large multinationals like Sodexho, Aramark and Compass, that slashed wages to $10 an hour with few benefits and pocketed the difference.

To make matters worse, the Liberal government has never produced a scrap of evidence showing that contracting out critical support and care services saved taxpayers any money. There is evidence, however, that contracting out has led to retention and recruitment issues, instability, low pay and chronic contract flipping by the many subcontractors that have cropped up in the last five years.

Gordon Campbell broke the promise he made to health care workers that he would not rip up contracts. He lied. Contracts were torn up and now the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that was wrong.
In fact for the first time since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted, the Court ruled that collective bargaining is a fundamental right. This was a huge victory for Canadian workers who fight for better lives, but also for public health care.
We all owe the Hospital Employee's Union, the B.C. Government and Services Employees Union and the B.C. Nurses Union a big thank-you for battling this all the way to the Supreme Court.

For most citizens, the Supreme Court is the last word. There is no appeal. If it was a corporation that had been wronged instead of working people, this government would bend over backwards to make it all better. But instead of an olive branch, this premier continues to wield the willow switch. Meanwhile, healthcare workers are rightly asking ---- if it's against the law to fire us then how can this still be happening?

Stopping these layoffs is the first priority. Let's not let the damage done by Bill 29 go on one day longer. If Campbell acted to fix the law as fast as he acted to break it, no worker would be fired.
And second this government has a legal and moral obligation to do right by the thousands of healthcare workers that were robbed of millions in pay, pensions and benefits. Campbell's government has two choices; it can ignore the Court decision, or it can sit down and negotiate. Negotiating was ruled out by the Liberals when they ripped up contracts; hopefully today they see things differently.

Campbell's announcement that the layoffs will proceed only increases the damage to health care and to workers. However, there's still time for the government to do the right thing. They must cease illegal firings, sit down with the unions and negotiate a return to justice for thousands of healthcare workers and a return of stability to the healthcare system.

Perhaps Premier Campbell should reflect on the last time he was found guilty of breaking the law. He apologized immediately, asked for forgiveness and promised never to do it again.

Now that's a plan most British Columbians would support.