The organization that lobbies on behalf of unionized workers across B.C. is fighting to close loopholes that allow contract flipping, the practice of firing staff en masse and hiring them back under a weaker contract.
Preventing contract flipping and union busting, and enhancing collective bargaining rights, were among a suite of recommendations the B.C. Federation of Labour made Wednesday to the committee tasked with reviewing the B.C. labour relations code.
The three-person committee is gathering submissions across B.C. and will make recommendations to the provincial government by August.
B.C. labour law tilted in favour of employers over the past 16 years under the former Liberal government, federation president Irene Lanzinger said, as she urged the committee to restore the balance for workers.
Contract flipping “is a very egregious way in which employers undermine the hard work of a union to bargain provisions,” Lanzinger said.
The tactic has been used most commonly by health-care operators and as a result, disproportionately impacts women, immigrants and visible minorities, she said.
“A union spends time bargaining these provisions and then the contract changes and the workers who have spent all that time bargaining for better wages and benefits has that completely undermined by a change in the contract,” Lanzinger said.
Legislation passed in 2002 by the Liberal government under then-premier Gordon Campbell opened the door for private health-care facilities to contract out services and eliminate union succession rights, which required health-care facilities to honour the former collective agreement negotiated with the previous contractor.
In September 2016, about 140 care aides, nurses, cleaners, recreation aides, dietary staff, and maintenance workers at Wexford Creek care home in Nanaimo were laid off and their work contracted out to Care Corp after the home was sold to Park Place Seniors Living.
In 2015, U.S. company Aramark lost its contract with Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals and extended care facilities, which resulted in the layoffs of 935 employees. The health authority then signed a seven-year agreement with another contractor, Compass Group Canada, which said at the time it would aim to hire back many of the laid-off Aramark employees.
In 2009, workers at three B.C. long-term care homes, including Victoria’s Beacon Hill Villa and Nanaimo Seniors Village, were threatened with layoffs after contractor Abbey Therapeutic told employees they would not be getting their next paycheque and that their benefits had been cancelled.
Employees were able to keep their jobs after an agreement was reached between the Hospital Employees’ Union and the private company that runs the care homes, Well Being Senior Services, a subsidiary of care-home operator Retirement Concepts.
The Hospital Employees’ Union has urged the provincial government to closely watch Retirement Concepts, which last year was sold to the Chinese company Anbang Insurance Group. At the end of February, the Chinese government announced it was taking charge of Anbang Insurance to rein in the company’s debt.
“We’ve taken a position that the government needs to monitor the situation very carefully,” said Máire Kirwan, co-ordinator of the private sector for the Hospital Employees’ Union. Kirwan said there hasn’t been word of any major changes at facilities owned by Retirement Concepts since news of the sale.
Retirement Concepts has 20 care homes, including seven on Vancouver Island, and is contracted by the province to provide about 1,900 nursing home beds and 750 assisted living spaces. B.C. health authorities paid the company $96.7 million in 2016-17 for those services, according to the Hospital Employees’ Union.
The federation is also pushing for enhanced resources for the Labour Relations Board so that union certification votes take place in a timely manner, which Lanzinger said is important to prevent pressure on employees to vote against unionization.
