Shane Woodford | Email news tips to shane.woodford@corusent.com
5/9/2012
The Labour Relations Board has ruled a BC Nurses union effort to raid LPNs from the Hospital Employees Union can proceed.
HEU spokesperson Mike Old says the board has ruled the requisite number of LPNs were signed up in six health authorities triggering a vote.
Old says this signals a campaign on both sides to win the LPNs over health authority by authority.
"The Labour Board has ordered votes in six different applications, so it is conceivable that LPNs in one health authority could vote in one direction and those in another could vote in another direction. But we are basically going to be working to talk to our LPNs about supporting the HEU in all of those applications."
Old says it doesn't mean all the licensed practical nurses in the province are being targeted by the BCNU in their raid.
"They actually excluded about 30 percent of LPN workplaces from the raid application, so they won't be participating in the vote. Neither will LPNs who work for the Provincial Health Services Authority, they also have been excluded from this vote."
Old says the vote will happen in a matter of weeks.
Debra MacPherson, the head of the BC Nurses Union says, she's delighted at the ruling.
"This is certainly what nurses want – that is, together in our practise, together in our profession. Certainly, we want to be together in our union and this gives at last those LPNs the right to choose."
There is no timeline yet, MacPherson says members will work that out over the next few days.
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