About 400 labour activists rallied on
Nov. 6 at the headquarters of VANOC, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing
Committee which played a major role in the Campbell Liberal
government's decision to impose back to work legislation on B.C.'s
paramedics. Bill 21 was rammed through the legislature during an
all-night sitting over the following weekend.
Health
Services Minister Kevin
Falcon admitted earlier that demands from VANOC helped lead to the
legislation. Falcon had repeatedly claimed in the Legislature and to
the public that the Olympics were not a factor, until CUPE released
information described in a September memo from VANOC to the BC
Ambulance Service and other government officials demanding "definitive
confirmation" that "all required ambulance services will be provided as
planned" for the 2010 Games.
The VANOC
edict threatened that
"If we are unable to obtain that guarantee (through either settlement
of the strike or legislated "detente" for the Games), then VANOC will
be required to initiate alternative contingency plans to avoid
cancellation of the Games."
CUPE BC
president Barry O'Neill
said "the minister's story has certainly changed since we released
contents of the memo, but what hasn't changed is this government's
unprecedented attack on collective bargaining."
The move to
legislate the
paramedics "back to work" came while they were in the middle of voting
on the Liberal government's latest offer. The 3,500 Ambulance
Paramedics of BC have been on strike since April 1 for better response
times, equipment, wages and staffing levels. They have continued to
work throughout the dispute under essential services orders.
Labour
leaders unanimously
condemned the legislation in the Paramedics dispute at an emergency
meeting of the B.C. Federation of Labour.
"This
legislation is completely
unnecessary," said Federation President Jim Sinclair. "Paramedics were
on the job. They were looking after people. Worse still, the Paramedics
were in the process of voting on the government's last offer. This
legislation isn't about taking care of British Columbians, it's about
Gordon Campbell going back to his old ways of ripping up workers'
rights and legislating collective agreements. The labour movement will
not stand for it. You can't bully workers into accepting collective
agreements. This isn't going to create labour peace. This is going to
create confrontation."
As John
Strohmaier, president of
the CUPE-affiliated Ambulance Paramedics, told the Nov. 6 rally, the
legislation is intended to send a warning to the 200,000 public sector
workers whose contracts are up for renewal following the Olympics. The
Liberals have also sent a message to public sector employers, he added,
that all they have to do is sit on their duffs and wait for the
province to impose anti-worker contracts.