Earlier that day a judge from the provinces’ supreme court ruled that the strikers were in contempt of court and ordered them back to work for continuing to maintain picket lines in defiance of Bill 37, passed on April 29 by the Liberal party government. The anti-union legislation ordered the strikers back to work, imposed a 15 percent wage rollback retroactive to April 1, and gave the government unlimited powers to fire health-care workers and contract out their jobs.

On April 25 hospital workers went on strike at 320 hospitals and health-care facilities across British Columbia to fight the contracting out of worker’s jobs to low-wage, nonunion companies and the government’s attempt to impose other concessions. Since January 2002, 6,000 union health-care workers have been fired as a result of contracting out.

Solidarity from other unions began to grow as the hospital workers continued to defy the government’s anti-strike law. Many hospital workers and their supporters saw the government assault as an attack on all unions, on health care, and on the gains women workers had won through past union battles. The large majority of the HEU members are women. In 1992 the HEU went on strike and won pay equity measures for women that strengthened the union.

A massive display of support for the health-care workers had been expected in the May 3 solidarity actions. The B.C. Teachers Federation and school maintenance staff had announced they would be shutting down the provincial school system. According to the Globe And Mail, “Trains, transit services and ferries were expected to be stopped. Mill workers, steel workers and forest workers said they would walk off their jobs in support of health-care workers.”

In the days leading up to May 3 thousands of other workers walked off the job for a day to demonstrate their support, including B.C. rail workers, Hydro workers, school maintenance and municipal workers, woodworkers at several mills, and dam workers.

Under the agreement, hospitals can contract out 600 union jobs in the next two years, in addition to the 1,300 workers who have already been given layoff notices. The pact includes a $25 million severance package.

The wage cut mandated by Bill 37 will be reduced from 15 percent to 14 percent and will come into effect May 1 instead of April 1. The workweek will be increased to 37 hours from 36 hours, with no increase in pay.

Chris Hoeppner in Seattle and Tony DiFelice in Vancouver contributed to this article.  
 
 
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