CUPE BC Secretary-Treasurer Trevor Davies urges support for BC Fed’s “Know a Nurse” campaign

From Trevor Davies, Secretary-Treasurer CUPE BC to Local Presidents and District Councils, August 23, 2016:

As many of you are aware, the BC Nurses Union leadership has been conducting an ongoing campaign of raiding against other unions in the Health Sector. Raiding is when one union starts an organizing drive in a workplace that already has a union, for the purpose of convincing those members to leave their current union for the new one. This results in large amounts of infighting in the workplace, and large amounts of money and staff resources wasted by both sides. And it’s the polar opposite of the principle of solidarity, which is the guiding value of the labour movement.

As a result of the BCNU’s raiding, they have been kicked out of their National Union (the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions), and kicked out of both the Canadian Labour Congress and the BC Federation of Labour.

This issue is clearly one being driven by the senior leadership of the Nurses Union and does not reflect the integrity of individual nurses.

To stop the raiding, we need the help of all locals, District Councils and members across the province. We are asking everyone to support the BC Fed’s “Know a Nurse” campaign. The premise is simple: If you know a nurse, speak to them and let them know what is going on with their union leadership. This can be done by going to: knowanurse.ca and downloading the materials for distribution at union meetings and community events.

Please take the time to visit the website and learn more about this important campaign.

In solidarity,
Trevor