For Immediate Release
November 12, 2003
Health unions asking courts to rule on
Labour Board independence in Bill 27 decisions
The chaotic restructuring of unions in the health sector must be put on hold
The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) are going to court to challenge the impartiality and independence of the Labour Relations Board (LRB) in implementing Bill 27.
“The Board is supposed to be a fair and independent tribunal, but it turns out it collaborated frequently with the government on Bill 27,” says UNA director of labour relations David Harrigan. “We do not expect a government minister to phone up a judge and talk about a case. We do not think they should be calling up the Labour Board either.”
The unions’ court application calls for a halt to the Bill 27 changes in health care and a reconsideration of many of the Board’s Bill 27 decisions.
“There certainly is the appearance of bias at the Labour Board,” says CEP’s Don MacNeil. “Bill 27 was devastating enough to begin with, but to have it unfairly applied makes it worse. We want all the decisions on this reconsidered by an impartial board.”
The provincial government brought in Bill 27 on April 1 totally rearranging the labour structure in the province’s health care sector. As health Employees suggested at the time, it has caused huge turmoil, moving thousands of Employees to different unions and destroying negotiated legal contracts.
The unions’ concerns are partly based on government and LRB documents that the Alberta Federation of Labour obtained through Freedom of Information requests. The documents showed the Board and its chair had been involved in private and undisclosed communications with the government on Bill 27 both during the drafting of the legislation and after it was enacted.
“That calls into question the credibility of the Board to administer it fairly,” says David Harrigan. “The Labour Board is responsible for overseeing Bill 27. But was it biased by its consultations with government?”
“How can we have confidence in the Board’s fairness in all these crucial decisions when the Board appears to have partnered with the government all along?”
The unions’ case includes evidence that suggests the Board may be biased on Bill 27 and ways in which it has acted unfairly. The unions first raised the concerns directly to the Labour Board itself, but the Board chose not to hold a public hearing and instead held in camera meetings before releasing its decision on November 7 dismissing the questions of bias.
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