By Justine Hunter
Strength in numbers - it's the principle that guides collective bargaining. And the notion that you carry more clout at the bargaining table as a unified force often holds true for employers as well.
Yet 26 operators of B.C. seniors care homes are opting out of the Health Employers Association of B.C. - demonstrating a loss of confidence in the government's bargaining agent.
"The end game is that we have collective agreements that are more sensitive to the issues of the residential care sector," explained Christine Nidd, provincial director for Revera Long Term Care, which has pulled six B.C. facilities out of the employers association.
"Sensitive" in this context conveys much: The care providers say government is not adequately funding seniors care, so the next union contract needs to deliver savings and efficiencies. And if they don't, care providers will close beds.
The unions, naturally, expect the employers' fix to land hard on the backs of their members. It's a reasonable conclusion given what has happened in recent weeks.
First, workers at three nursing homes were told their employer couldn't meet the payroll. A deal was quickly made, but it served to draw attention to the funding crunch.
This week, a Duncan care home announced it is firing all 228 of its staff after they tried to organize a union.
These kinds of conflicts are unsettling to residents who rely on staff to make a facility a home.
But they also set the tone for what could be a tempestuous season of collective bargaining in British Columbia next spring, when the labour peace negotiated to last through the 2010 Winter Olympics expires for about 200,000 public-sector workers.
The government's continued austerity kick, driven by a massive deficit, demands change and flexibility - and as the recent paramedics labour dispute demonstrated, that can just as easily mean conflict and instability.
"It's going to be a difficult bargaining climate," predicted Jim Sinclair, head of the B.C. Federation of Labour. "In tough times, you need higher levels of co-operation and you need services to work better - and the train is going in the opposition direction."
For the most part, there is a common set of wages and benefits across the sector of non-profit and private long-term care homes, which leads to a common standard of care.
But the BC Care Providers Association, in a report to be released today, says the government must change the way it pays for seniors care if it wants to keep the system whole.
"There is a crisis - facilities are not going to be able to maintain the standard and quality of care they obviously want to maintain," said Ed Helfrich, chief executive officer of the association of independent seniors care providers.
"It's critical now, in a time of restraint, that government puts some priority on this sector, some increased planning, otherwise it won't be sustainable."
The report recommends new funding formulas, and calls for parity with the long-term care facilities run directly by the health authorities. (The independent operators take issue with the fact that health authorities pay higher rates for their own residential care and home support.) But in the likely event that the province doesn't come up with a more generous funding formula, the report also demands the sector be granted a stronger voice in setting the collective bargaining mandate.
"It's not primarily about lowering wages and benefits," Ms. Nidd said. "It's about having more control and input into a collective agreement - including wages and benefits."
The Hospital Employees' Union, one of the three unions that represent the majority of care-home workers, agrees there is a funding crisis. And it agrees with the BC Care Providers Association that changes are needed to ensure a better standard of care.
Where they part company, naturally, is the notion that collective bargaining offers the means to address the funding shortfall.
Judy Darcy, secretary-business manager for the HEU, predicts the move to many small bargaining tables would seriously disrupt continuity of care for seniors in a sector that's already been shaken by under-funding and contracting out.
"The goal is to reduce wages, benefits and working conditions and what that means is we are going to see higher turnover of staff," she said. "We're going to see continual instability in seniors care. It means such incredible uncertainty in the lives of seniors, when what they need most is stability."
Without looking at the books of each publicly funded care home, it isn't possible to say that cheaper labour is the solution. Nor is it likely that the provincial government and its health authorities will decide more money is the answer.
But there were some creative options offered by the care providers when they met this week with Health Minister Kevin Falcon. He has some choices, if he is prepared to accept that his government ought to do better by seniors.
