Anger as B.C. Nurses' Union candidates stripped from electoral ballot
Matt Robinson
Removed candidates for BCNU executive, Will Offley and Mary Jean Lyth, speak to media in Vancouver, BC., May 23, 2017. NICK PROCAYLO / PNG
When nurses across B.C. vote in union elections over the next several days, the only names on the provincial executive ballot will be incumbents.
The reasons for that amounts to an unprecedented violation of democracy, according to a trio of former candidates who were removed from the ballot last weekend.
The candidates, Will Offley, Sharon Sharp and Mary Jean Lyth, had been running in the election for the positions of president, vice-president, and treasurer, respectively. But on Sunday, the head of the nurses' union's nominations committee told them their names were being removed as candidates, said Offley.
As a result, Gayle Duteil, Christine Sorensen and Sharon Sponton will each receive another term by acclamation.
"This is the sort of action you would expect from a regime in Turkey or the Third World. This is not the sort of thing you would expect in British Columbia," Offley told reporters Tuesday.
B.C. Nurses Vote for Change, a slate that held all three of the former candidates, alleged in a news release that the candidates were stripped from the ballot by the BCNU leadership because "they are afraid of what the members would decide in a free and fair election."
B.C. Nurses for Change supporters meet at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) on May 23, 2017. NICK PROCAYLO / PNG
On Monday, Umar Sheikh, the acting executive director and general counsel of the BCNU, wrote to union members to say the nominations committee "acts independently and its members are in no way affiliated with, or influenced by any candidate."
Asked further about the relationship between the nominations committee and the executive, Sheikh said the committee members are elected, do not hold political office, and are not affiliated with parties. The committee has an independent lawyer and its members are charged with setting election rules, he said.
Those rules had repeatedly been broken by the candidates during their campaign, Sheikh said. The candidates had also prompted complaints from members about issues like leafleting hospitals, putting up posters in nursing stations and spreading false information, he said.
Meanwhile, Duteil has sued Offley for defamation over a claim he made about benefits received by the president.
Offley said the candidates intend to challenge the decision of the committee. The union executive had not received notice about any challenge as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, Sheikh said.
Lyth joined Offley and Sharp at the news conference.
"I would like to see our names put back on the ballot and let the vote go to the people," Lyth said, drawing applause from a couple of dozen nurses.
Among them were Cathy Cavinaw, John Tino and Penny Merletti, all nurses who said they wanted to see more transparency in union business, an audit of BCNU spending for the last several years, and the candidates' names returned to the ballot.
"What are they afraid of?" Tino asked. "All we want is transparency."
The union's 47,000 members vote now to June 2. Some candidates from Offley's slate remain on the ballot and are fighting for a couple of dozen board seats, Sheikh said.
mrobinson@postmedia.com
Is there more to this story? We'd like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.
Anti-vaccination moms judged harshly, UBC study finds Young girl dragged into water by sea lion wasn't feeding animal,...
Shaw: NDP has bigger fight with Western Forest Products than strike | Vancouver Sun
REAL SCOOP: VPD investigates two murders in violent weekend | Vancouver Sun