Union members want to keep what they’ve long fought for and management wants to ensure its enterprise has enough of a cushion to handle future challenges. It’s not a new story. But it’s always an interesting one.
Our front page story details how union members and Pacific Blue Cross management have hit a brick wall. Union members chalk it up to a change in upper management’s attitude. What they once saw as a good working relationship with management they now see as broken.
Trust is lost, and no one is talking to the other side.
What complicates this labour battle is that the organization handles most public sector union health benefits. In other words, Burnaby city employees who want to support their Pacific Blue Cross CUPE brothers and sisters in this dispute would have to stop filing claims if they were to fully respect the picket line. Given that health benefits are essential items, that’s virtually impossible. So many supporters have been filing paper claims as opposed to online claims, forcing management to deal with the extra work. It’s also a politically touchy dispute.
City councillor Colleen Jordan sits on the organization’s board of directors. As a former high-profile union leader and current member of the Burnaby Citizens Association and city councillor, she is surely feeling the heat. Does she support management’s tactics? Does she remain silent hoping to distance herself from the dispute? As a board member her duty is clearly to the organization, but does that imply full support of its goals?
A handout from the union titled ‘Heads in the sand’ with photos of Jordan and her fellow board members says, “...the board’s failure to respond and its lack of accountability are disgraceful. Tell this board – expecially the six labour leaders – to send PBC back to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair contract that keeps workers’ retiree benefits.”
It’s not the first time union leaders have turned into hard bargainers against other union members, and it won’t be the last.
But upper management seems to be holding firm despite the pressure. And when experienced management holds to a position it often signifies that it has a long-term plan it doesn’t want to give up on.
Vince Ready is set to act as a mediator in the dispute in September, and we suspect he will, as usual, have his work cut out for him. And, as usual, our money is on Ready to talk some sense into both sides of this dispute.
