Vaughn Palmer: It was binding arbitration or a contract imposed by legislation, B.C. nurses told

Veteran B.C. labour mediator Vince Ready. Photo by B.C. Labour Heritage Centre

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VICTORIA — B.C. Nurses President Adriane Gear denied recent reports that her striking union was seeking “more than double” the wage increase that tens of thousands of public sector workers had already accepted.

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The report was “incorrect,” said Gear, even as she declined to be more specific.

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“In terms of what we’re asking for, those are discussions for the bargaining table,” Gear told Global TV. “We’ve never released what our monetary ask is.”

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She was technically correct, though perhaps not in the sense she intended.

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The nurses were actually asking for a lot more than double what other public sector workers got in the current bargaining round.

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The details were contained in Friday’s report on the standoff from special mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers.

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“The nurses bargaining association is proposing a wage increase of eight per cent in each of four years, plus a signing bonus, and a reduction in the steps in the wage grid, which would give rise to greater monetary increases for a number of nurses over and above the general wage increases.”

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Eight per cent a year over each of four years works out to 36 per cent when compounded. I understand the union also wanted a signing bonus of $5,000 a member.

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The special mediators also confirmed why the government was unwilling to exceed the 14 per cent over four years that was already the basis for settlement with unions representing 125,000 public sector workers.

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“The government points to the presence of what is known as a ‘me-too’ clause,” wrote Ready and Rogers. “If the nurses were to negotiate wage increases above what the other unions settled for, it would have a major financial impact on the government totalling billions of dollars given that it would have to extend comparable increases to all public sector workers covered by these me-toos.”

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The result was a wage standoff that the mediators described as “significant,” “intractable,” “a chasm,” “a stalemate” and in the final analysis … well, let the mediators tell it:

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“Due to the colossal difference between these parties on these issues, it is impossible to mediate a satisfactory resolution to these matters,” they wrote. “There is simply no hope that the parties will reach a negotiated agreement on their own.”

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It was as discouraging a finding as I can recall in a B.C. public sector labour dispute, particularly coming from these two mediators.

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The upshot was a recommendation that the standoff be sent to binding arbitration.

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Almost immediately on Friday, both sides accepted Ready and Rogers as the preferred arbitration board.

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The call was easy for the New Democrats because the results of binding interest arbitration are specifically exempt from me-too clauses. Whatever the nurses win through the process, there would be no contractual obligation to pass it on to others.

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The government may also have been encouraged by the fine print of the recommendation: “It would allow for a neutral, reasoned and balanced judgment to be issued applying standard interest arbitration. … Principles which include reasonableness and fairness, replication, a proper comparison of wages paid to nurses across Canada, the historical bargaining practices between these parties, and any other factors the interest arbitration board deems appropriate.”