THE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1999
THE NURSES STRIKE OF 1999

Tim Richards

Introduction

The 8400 nurses represented by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses walked off the job on April 8, 2000 to protest against the slow contract talks with the government represented by the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations. The dispute lasted for 10 days of illegal strike activity by the members of SUN. "April 8 in a legal strike. Less than six hours later they were legislated back to work by the government. The nurses defied government with a 10-day illegal strike" (Community-Action). The nurses defied the court and the government to stand up and protest for what they believed in, and fight for the rights of the working class.

What They Were After

There were a number of apparent issues in dispute between the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses wanted to solve a number of issues. They were looking for wage parity, better working conditions, and one collective agreement for its new and previous members, and to deal with the problem of recruiting and the retention of nurses. "Nurses say they are underpaid, forced to work overtime because of chronic staff shortages and unable to properly care for patients"(Canadian-Press-Newswire). While SAHO on the other hand wanted to settle the agreement they did not want to offer too much in terms of a pay increase, but did want to solve the problem of retention and recruiting.

The nurses were looking for wage parity with other provinces and were looking to gain back the ground they had lost from past agreements. "The union is standing by its demand for a 22 per cent pay hike over three years" (Canadian-Press-Newswire). That is probably the biggest issue in the negotiations. The second major issue was to get all their members under one collective agreement. This was not the case after the Dorsey commission ruled that all nurses working in one of the 36 health districts would be represented by SUN. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses now represented members who where presently members of a different union and that had different collective agreements.

The two sides were looking to solve the problem of recruiting and the retention of nurses in the province. The lack of nurses staying in the province after completion of the degree program is limited. The problem of nurses leaving the province for better pay, better working condition is a serious problem that needed to be addressed. These were the major problems that the nurses union wanted to solve.

The nurses were also looking to solve a number of other issues such as Time off in lieu of overtime, Standby for units closed on weekends, changes to northern allowance, recognition of previous experience, and many more concerns were all issues that the nurses represented by SUN were looking to improve on in this round of negotiations.

Turned Into a Heated Debate

What made the nurses' strike such a heated and debated issue was the lack of interest shown from management SAHO, the lack of knowledge about the issues by SAHO, as well as the government intervention and the back to work legislation, as well as the additional wants that SUN was asking for, and the misunderstanding of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by all parties. These were some of the biggest hurdles that turned the negotiations from being quiet and peaceful to a heated debate.

The lack of interest shown from management SAHO to start the collective bargaining early was a big issue with the nurses union SUN (Rosalee Longmoore). Knowing that this round of negotiations would be a long and hard battle the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses was willing to start the bargaining process early to try and work out a collective agreement. Management on the other hand dragged there feet and turned down the offer to start the negotiation process early. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses approached management (SAHO) in mid December to start the negotiation process but this process did not start until spring of 2000. This started the bargaining out on the wrong foot and contributed to the defiance by the nurses.

The lack of knowledge show by the management side also created more and more frustration for SUN members. "Saskatchewan nurses are angry. Angry with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) for what Bev Crossman, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses chief negotiator, compared to 'bargaining with a post'" (Manz-George). The nurses became even more and more frustrated, due to the lack of knowledge of the other collective agreement of SUN's new members. This was created by the Dorsey commission, which gave SUN the right to represent all nurses employed in the 36 health districts in Saskatchewan. SUN's president Rosalee Longmoore was very frustrated and fed up with management's lack of knowledge. She also believed that management did not want to reach a quick and fair deal (Rosalee Longmoore).

The government's intervention was another cause of the heated negotiations. The government stepped in and ordered the workers back to work only 6 hours into the legal strike (Canadian-Press-Newswire). "After the legislation was passed, about 2,000 SUN members from around the province held a rally to decide their next move. Shouting 'Hell no, we won't go,' they voted to defy the legislation, calling it an unjust law" (Manz-George). This rallied the nurses and helped to get the necessary public support. When the government legislated the nurses back to work and implemented a lousy contract, it made the nurses dig their heals in and refused everything that was not 100 per cent to their satisfaction. This defiant attitude stopped contract talks and moved both sides further and further apart. On April 18, 1999 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the province, SUN, and SAHO (SAHO Handout package). The memorandum called for the mediation of all outstanding issues with a 13.7 percent total increase, but the interpretation of the 13.7 percent increase was still in question. SAHO's position is that any monetary proposal to which it agreed would have to be costed within the 13.7 percent. While SUN believed that the 13.7 percent would not include all other monetary issues (SAHO Handout package). This upset both sides and placed negotiations at a strain once again.

These are the greatest factors that turned the negotiations in the nurse's strike from being calm, quite, and internal into a heated debate between the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations. The two sides finally sat down and finalized an agreement. The nurse's union had the backing of the public, and believed that their voice was not being heard by SAHO. The union of nurses also had social influence, their leader was mobilized and discontent with little interest in settling on a contract that covered only some of their concerns, but on a contract that dealt with all their concerns (SAHO Handout package).

Functions of a Union

A union has five main functions. Economic, democratization, integrative, social democratic, class struggle/revolutionary. When we analyze the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, we can see that the union was focused on the economic, integrative, class struggle/revolutionary functions. The economic function is one of the main struggles that the union is trying to overcome. The economic function is, "A function of a union which involves improving the wages and benefits of workers; most fully developed under the neoclassical perspective" (Godard, pg. 502). One of the main issues was improving wages and benefits to fair level as well as competitive with other provinces. The nurses were after a 22 per cent increase but received, "A wages and benefits package amounting to a 13.7 per cent increase over three years. The province also proposed creation of a $7-million fund for recruitment and retention of nurses"(Driver-Deana). This gives us a good example of how the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses were working hard to improve wage and benefits for their members and following the economic function.

The integrative function is, "A function of unions that involves the integration of workers into the workplace and fostering of labour-management harmony" (Godard, pg. 506). The integrative function could also be used to describe one of the major issues in the labour dispute between the nurses and management. The nurses were after better working conditions for their members. This involved a number of things. The nurses were looking to fix the nurse shortages, the forced overtime, and the ability not to care for patients to the best of their ability. This can all be found under the integrative function of a union. The nurses union foresaw the shortage in the nursing industry and tried to fix it in this round of negotiations. They were looking after the issues that frustrated their members and were trying to improve the members' performances.

The class struggle/revolutionary function is also demonstrated in the nurses' strike. The class struggle/revolutionary function is, "A function of unions that involves the expression of class conflict and or the revolutionary overthrow of an established economic and political system" (Godard, pg. 497). The class struggle/revolutionary function has two main parts. The two main parts are syndicalism and communism, which can both be related to the nurses' strike. "Syndicalism unions are viewed as the only true instruments of the working class, and as such should play the leading role in this process, primarily through direct economic actions including workplace strikes, boycotts " (Godard, pg. 210). An example of this in the nurses' strike is the union backed by its members voted to strike and disrupt the health care system, causing economic hardship to the employer. This allowed the nurses to put pressure on management to give in to their wants and needs. "Communism on the other hand argues that, the overthrow of capitalism can only occur once workers in general have developed a revolutionary consciousness and have become organized for mass political action. Unions can assist in this process and provide a basis for organizing workers for the broader class struggle" (Godard, pg. 212). There is also an example of this in the nurse's strike. The members of SUN voted, "74 per cent for strike mandate " (Fletcher-Marla). Therefore the union members developed a revolutionary consciousness and were organized by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, who then represented their members at the bargaining table. The union acts on behalf of their members' interests and fights for what is best for them.

Democracy

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses can be considered to be both a democratic and a non-democratic union. It is democratic in the sense that the members have the right to vote on issues such as a strike vote and have their voices heard. Members can bring up issues that are concerning them. These issues are then dealt with. A union is democratic when ratifying a new collective agreement. The members all get to vote on the new proposed contract and either accept it or turn it down. The union could also be considered non-democratic. The main issues are brought up and usually discussed and decided with in its upper levels. An example of this is every member does not have a right to negotiate separate contracts and so on. The membership relies on the judgement of their leaders to make sure issues are dealt with in a fair and timely matter. Another way a union is non-democratic is when the union is trying to renegotiate a collective agreement. There is a bargaining unit established to bargain with management and eventually come to a settlement. This is non-democratic because everyone can not voice his or her opinions to management.

Conclusion

The widespread debate was finally settled on April 18, 2000. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses settled on a wage increase and the retention and recruitment issues would be looked into. The strike was finally over and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organization returned to work keeping our health system running. It was a short but a very heated negotiation process. It saw the nurses defy the government, the courts and take action through an illegal strike. In the end both sides put their differences aside and worked out a fair deal.