- half" of-vall:

<3. Your Number One
“Suburban: Newspaper

; it, ‘the ;
ECNU:: vote across ' the Province.

was 91 per cent yes.”

said ‘Thursday,
- strated: to”

0° -be! more - realistic about °
nurses‘and health care in this pro-
vince. Our, objective, isa collective
i ‘agreement; nota strike.””. >.
hough he’ ‘declined

Miller said it.‘‘was substantial.” . °
- -LGH president~ John Borthwick
: said he found it difficult to imag-

- ine how..the hospital would func-

‘tion without its BCNU members. ..-

‘LGH " PRESIDENT “John Bor-
thwick...recalls strike 10 years ago

~when. all. but. the © hospital’s
emergency services was paralysed.

Coupled. with the March 13 col-
lapse’ of ‘bargaining between the
Hospital Employees Union’ (HEU)
and ‘the Health Labour Relations
Association (HLRA), and a subse-
quent. strike.-vote.-April: 24, . the
BCNU strike vote Pushes LGH in-

to 2 potentially : serious labor situa- .

tion, he said.

The :750. HEU © members, who
perform all. hospital duties not
done’ by. registered nurses, make up
full-time LGH
employees... The HEU dispute is
currently.i in mediation.: ‘

Borthwick ‘said the’ last major
strike at-the hospital was. 10 years
ago:when the HEU went out for a
week. At that time the Labor Rela-
tions Board designated 29 people
as essential employees.

““We had to close down

“*We have demon- :
~- vices,"

to give.
“physiotherapists, is also currently -
bargaining with LGH:

‘ly;- fourth” overall
Alberta’ has the highest start-up

By TMOTRY REN
-° News Reporter.

everything except emergency : ser.
Borthwick : Said. lt “wai
very difficult,” . :

_ A third union at the hospital,

~the.-Health Sciences Association,

which
technologists,

includes: 209..lab.
pharmacists and

Borthwick said of the approx-}
imately 1,500. full-time - LGH

; employees; only 50 are non-union.

Spokesman for. the HLRA Peter.’
McAllister: was’ out of © town’
Thursday and consequently
unavailable for comment on the
BCNU vote. :

Miller said the last HLRA con-”

 tract-offer of a zero per-cent raise:

for .1985.and increases of one and.
two.'per cent for 86 and ’8
respectively, ‘‘raises serious con- .:

‘cerns about its effect on the quality

of health care in this province.” :
- Starting rate for B.C. registered.
nurses is currently $25,152 annual- -

in Canada.

rate at $28,420. jc» >

B.C. nurses sat the top of the
wage scale earn $29,076,..sixth
overall. Alberta pays its nurses thé

‘highest top rate salary at $32,910

annually.

Miller said there were a number
of issues besides wages, including
securing the right to use union
grievance procedures to address
perceived patient safety problems.

The BCNU also wants to reduce
from eight to six the number of
consecutive shifts. employers can
require nurses to work, Miller said. '

In addition, Miller said BCNU
membership. wanted better shift
work compensation.

“Approximately 85 per cent of
our membership work evening and
night shifts,"’ Miller said, ‘‘with 50
cents per hour compensation now,

_.we think we can do better.”

The HLRA, he said, had refused
to address any of those issues.

Miller. said‘ the dispute would
now go back. to mediator Jack
Chapelas.

He declined to say when job ac-
tion might begin, ‘‘but our
members have already waited a
long time to have this thing settl-
ed.”*