CUPE is joining with other unions to launch a Charter challenge against the BC government to defend the rights of health care workers – and to defend Medicare.
HEU, along with BCGEU, HSA and the BC nurses union, have asked the BC Supreme Court to strike down Bill 29 on the grounds that it violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Campbell Liberals used Bill 29 to gut the collective agreements protecting health care workers.
A ruling by the courts that the legislation is unconstitutional would block the government’s radical health care restructuring plans that include facility closures, deep service cuts and the largest privatization scheme in Canadian history in which 28,000 jobs could be axed.
HEU president Fred Muzin has a warning for health care administrators and
multinational corporations looking to profit from the privatization of health services.
“When Bill 29 is struck down, there will be huge costs that neither health employers nor corporations will be able to insulate themselves from,” Muzin says. “Let’s be clear. Anyone who seeks to profit or benefit from this draconian legislation does so at their peril.”