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THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

January 15, 1986 News o4s- 2131 Classified 986-6222 Circulation 986-1337 40 p pages 5¢

Beacon Hi

led

by B.C. Nurses’ Union

THE B.C. Nurses’

Union has officially

‘‘greylisted’’ Beacon Hill Lodge.

BCNU_ spokesman Jerry
Miller said Monday that the
greylisting involved sending
out’a union fact sheet to all
nurses’ unions and associa-
tions across Canada
documenting the employ-
ment situations at both the
West Vancouver private
hospital and Vancouver's
Cambie Private Hospital.

Treatment of the 22
BCNU members working at
Beacon Hill, according to
Miller, is completely inap-
propriate.

‘“‘We want to apply more
pressure to the employer
here,"’ Miller said, ‘‘and we
feel this is one way of doing
that.””

The move foliows almost
six months of labor unrest at
the West Vancouver private
hospital.

COMPARATIVE WAGES

According to the union
fact sheet, wages at com-
parable facilities, such as
Victoria's James Bay Lodge,
are 23.7 per cent higher than
those paid to BCNU nurses
employed at Beacon Hill and
up to 65 per cent higher than
those paid to Cambie
Hospital BCNU nurses.

All three hospitals are
owned by Beacon Hill
Lodges of Canada, an On-
tario based company.

Hourly wages currently
paid to Beacon Hill nurses,

N. SHORE NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE

trike vote slated for today

A STRIKE is

dispute,

Twenty-five employees of
the community-oriented
social and recreational facili-
ty are taking a strike vote
today (Wednesday).

The vote comes just over a
month after negotiations
broke down between
management and the
members of the Service Of-
fice and Retail Workers

Union of Canada (SOR-
WUC), and two weeks after
their contract expired Dec
3.

pending at
Neighbourhood House over a wage and labor

* By YIMOTHY RENSHAW.

according to union figures,
range between $10.82 and
$12.

At the Cambie Hospital,
wages range between $8.50
to $9.07 per hour:

At the James Bay Lodge
registered nurses earn be-
tween $12.85 and $14.85 per
hour.

TALKS BREAKDOWN

Following a breakdown in
negotiations for a first con-
tract in early 1985, the
BCNU issued strike notice to
Beacon Hill on July 16.

Actual work stoppages did
not occur, however, until
Sept. 9, when nurses
withdrew their services for
an hour.

The nurses again walked
off the job Oct. 16 and 17
for 16 and eight hours
respectively.

Beacon Hill management
subsequently served the
nurses with 72-hour lockout
notice on Oct. 21.

But as the result of a
Labor Relations Board rul-
ing, that lockout has yet to
materialize.

LRB RULING

The initial LRB ruling,
brought down Nov. 4 and
upheld in a subsequent deci-

North Shure

[ By ROSS MEEK | |

NSNH_ originally offered
the union a wwo per cent in-
crease in each year of a two-
year contract, but withdrew
the offer Dec. 31, said NSNH
president John Lakes.

PRESS BARGAINING
Union representative

Joanne Hache said she did
not want to ‘‘hargain

sion Jan. 3, refused to grant
a Beacon Hill management
request that the 110 Hospital
Employees Union (HEU)
members employed at the
hospital be designated as
essential in the labor dispute.

“SOMETIMES just getting up. p off the c ground is the most difficult part of learning t how’ to ski.

Without that designation,
Beacon Hill management
cannot force HEU members
to cross any BCNU picket
lines that would result from
either a strike or lockout.

In the LRB decision, HEU

workers will only be desig-
nated essential if no BCNU
replacements are brought in
by the employer.

Beacon Hill management
spokesman Stephen Rinfret
said Monday that manage-

ment had yet to see the
BCNU’s greylisting fact
sheet and could therefore
make no comment.

He said no decision had
been made to re-appeal the
LRB ruling thus far.

Local ski-wee 1 Tyler le-

ments wrestled with skis, poles and snow on a recent outing to Groise Mountain. ‘Tyler learned the h ¢ way | tha
don’ t t take Bravity fc for granted | in the litt line. : .

through the press’* by
discussing the union’s
monetary proposal.

But she added that the
members were concerned
about a wide range of issues
—~ with wages and tem-
porary employees being at
the top of the list.

But NSNH director Doug
Sabourin said the union had
asked for a $200 across the
board increase.

Both sider. say the other
walked away from the
negotiating table. And while
both sides say they are will-
ing to sit down and talk,
they are waiting for the

other side to call.

“We said at the beginning
we wanted a quick settle-
ment,’’ said Lakes, ‘‘but
they don’t seem interested in
negotiating. They were sup-
posed io get back to us after
the last meeting.’’

SETTLE QUICKLY

But Hache said the union
was told at the last meeting's
end not to come back until it
wanted to accept the two per
cent offer.

“The members feel wo
per cent is unfair,’’ said
Hache. “They didn’t have

an increase in three years
and only got a three per cent
increase last year.’’

The three per cent increase
followed over a year of
negotiations, she said.

After the union settled for
three per cent in 1985, the
board voted management an
eight per cent increase,
Hache said.

OFFER GENEROUS

Lakes said the manage-
ment increase was closer to
six per cent.

Wages at NSNH range be-
tween $7 and $10 per hour,

the majority of which are on
the lower scale, Hache said.

Lakes on the other hand
said the offer is generous
considering other unions
have been forced to take
zero increases and benefit
concessions,

Over the last few years
NSNH has rebounded from
financial difficulty and has
paid off most of a $60,000
debt, Lakes said.

“While our situation is
better, it is still poor,’’ said
Lakes. ‘‘We're still carrying
a $10,000 debt. We think we
are doing well to offer the
union any increase.’"

aces