Thank you for taking the time to visit our website.
We very reluctantly took the step of reaching out to you and other RNs.
But we really don't have a choice.
Because the BCNU leadership has for the second time in two years mounted an expensive and destructive raid on the members of the Hospital Employees' Union.
Of course, we are confident that our members will reject the BCNU raid again this time just as they did in 2009. And we also understand that a majority of RNs feel the same way, as fewer than one in three RNs support the raid on HEU LPNs according to a recent phone survey conducted in late September.
But the cost to BCNU members continues to mount.
Think about the damage to your relationships with other health care workers...
- BCNU's raid causes division among professional nurses and between nurses and other team members in health care.
- BCNU's behaviour has undermined the historically strong relationships that have existed between health care workers and their unions in the workplace, at the bargaining table, and on the picket line.
- BCNU's attack on other health care unions undermines our ability to work together on the issues that really matter to our members – protecting public health care and improving the delivery of care to British Columbians.
Think about what your union dues are paying for...
- a slick new website to recruit LPNs
- newspaper, radio, and bus shelter ads (we estimate that BCNU members spent more than $100,000 on newspaper and radio ads during the week of August 29 alone)
- paid organizers
- high-priced, out-of-province consultants
- legal fees
- free dinners, pizza lunches, lanyards, chocolate roses and other incentives to woo non-BCNU members
- diversion of your union staff to the raid on HEU instead of representing RNs
Think about the isolation of BCNU caused by the raid...
- BCNU representatives can't participate in local labour councils, the BC Federation of Labour or the Canadian Labour Congress.
- Last month, BCNU was forced to leave the Canadian Federation of Nurses' Unions because of the raid.
As a valued colleague on the health care team, please take a moment to consider whether the costs of this raid are really worth the damage.
If you agree that the cost is too high, please take a minute or two right now to let your union know how you feel.
Thank you very much.