VANCOUVER — In a precedent-setting move, the B.C. Nurses’ Union has ousted its beleaguered president, Gayle Duteil, after receiving a confidential report by arbitrators Vince Ready and Judy Korbin.
Christine Sorensen, who had been acting in the role since late last fall, is now president of the 47,000-member union and will remain in the position until the next election in 2020.
Duteil had been placed on paid administrative leave last fall after several allegations about improper conduct during the union’s election campaign last spring. She was acclaimed in that election for a second, three-year term. But days after, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was barred from going back to work when her treatment ended because of multiple allegations that led to investigations and litigation.
The union’s governing council took a unanimous vote of non-confidence in Duteil just over a week ago, the effect of which was that Duteil ceased being a member in good standing and was thus ineligible to remain in office. During an in-camera session with more than 500 delegates to the union’s annual convention in Vancouver last week, the news of Duteil’s ousting was announced.
Union CEO Umar Sheikh gave BCNU members a lengthy briefing about the process that led to the council’s decision.
Duteil is no longer entitled to hold office but remains a dues-paying union member and can still work as a nurse.
She said in an email she could not comment for this story, but in late March she said that she believed she would be exonerated by Ready and Korbin. The arbitrators interviewed dozens of individuals and Sheikh said that while he cannot share details of their report, the end result was certainly a precedent.
A former president of the union, Cathy Ferguson, resigned several years ago, he said, before a no-confidence vote. But Sheikh is not aware of a BCNU president ever being effectively fired as Duteil has been.
Sheikh said under union bylaws, Duteil still has an avenue of appeal and is involved in other litigation against the union, including a human rights tribunal and an appeal of a Labour Relations Board decision that resulted in a $75,000 fine against the union related to Duteil’s election campaign actions.
In an internal communication, the union told nurses that the February 2018 decision by arbitrator Tom Hodges found Duteil had “engaged in communications with the union’s Provincial Nominations Committee during the BCNU’s 2017 Provincial Election in a manner that amounted to a flagrant attempt to threaten, interfere with and manipulate the Committee’s processes.”
Sheikh said while litigation might go on for another year or more, “our hope is that it won’t.”
“We are looking forward to collective bargaining. Our focus is no longer on internal matters,” he said, referring to years of strife within the BCNU.
