NEWS photo Cindy Goodman NORTH SHORE Health community nurses Pauline Deane (left) Wendy Eves, Franca Bertoncin, Donna Halloran and Karen Dierks are among 90 nurses who returned to work on Tuesday after the 8.C. Nurses’ Unions voted 99% in favor of a new contract. Community nurses settle strike to collect more pay COMMUNITY HEALTH nurses voted 99% in favor of contract settlement on Monday, ending an increasingly heated seven-wWeek strike. By Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter The B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU) members, including 90 North Shore Health community nurses, had been without a contract since Dec. 31, 1991. The nurses returned to work on Tuesday after conducting pickets, sit-ins in mayors’ offices, emotional presentations during municipal council meetings and phone and let- ter campaigns to elected officials. Said BCNU spokesman Bob Smith, “I personally have never seen such a high level of participa- tion (by union members in a Sabor dispute). It was amazing.” A tentative agreement for the 800 community nurses from the North Shore, Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond was reached over the weekend after 36 hours of bargain- ing. The BCNU and the Greater Vancouver Regional District agreed to a two-year contract for each of the four municipalities. Raises in the contracts would give the union members parity with provincially employed public service nurses. The wage increase includes 3.5% retroactive to Jan. 1, 1992, and 2.75% retroactive to Jan. 1, 1993, according to Smith, The BCNU had sought one con- tract pertaining to the four munici- palities and wage increases to give them parity with their nursing coun- terpurts at Work in acute-care hospi- tals. According to the BCNU, 4 com- parable hospital nurse’s wage is $27.22 an hour compared to the $20.25 base hourly rate the BCNU niembers were earning. Smith said the four nunicipal contracts are the same except for a “couple of differences” of minor significance. 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These ciauses allowed the Minister of Transport to “enter into agree- ments on behalf of Her majesty to provide for the payment of such f amounts as the Minister considers appropriate." The Senate ques- § tioned the appropriateness and legality of legisiating away the right ot affected parties to sue for com- pensation. ; MY SPEECH ON PEARSON Prior to all of this on Aprit 26, § 1994, | spoke in Parliament on Bill C-22, expressing the same con- s cerns later identified by the Senate. To quote from the Hansard record of my speech: “.. an entity in the private sector does not have the ‘uxury of legislat- ing itself to be exempt from the obligation to compensate another E party when it breaks an agreement. h Generally speaking, there is some- thing unattractive in the idea that a 7 government can do what private enterprise cannot do by exempting itseif from the need to compensate a group and to also exempt itself j from the ability of someone to start litigation against it." It should be noted that | was not § defending the participants in the Pearson Sale in this speech, In fact } | mentioned that the present Prime i Minister had made it very clear dur- 5 ing the election campaign that he would cancel the deal so anyone who still went ahead did so with that | full knowledge. ! was concerned | only about the precedent set by a j Government legislating itself to be 4 exempt from legal challenge. THE SECOND TIME Bill C-22 was the second Bill rejected by the Senate during the | first session of Parliament. They | alSo amended and sent back Bill C- j 18 which proposed changes to | electoral boundaries. tn that case they also expressed concem about the constitutionality of the Sill. One of the C-18 amendments | reduced a timing aspect of the Bill § from 24 to 12 months. This was the same suggestion previously pro- posed by Reform and rejected by the Liberals. The Government was extramely unhappy, to say the least, at having to accept an amendment the same as one pro- posed by Reform. They even tried } to re-amend the Bill to 13 months j but the Senate insisted on 12 months. AN EFFECTIVE SENATE? It appears that by sending back two bills over the past few months, the Senate may actually be doing the job it is supposed to do, Many people have said that the Senate | should be abolished but these two examples prove that there is a real need for an effective Senate. Now, | if we could just arrange for it to be f ELECTED and EQUAL, what aj great institution it would be: a true place of sober second thought f weighing the interests of the provinces against the power of the | House of Commons. ,