VANCOUVER – Two unions representing post-secondary employees have launched a B.C. Supreme Court challenge of a government bill they call undemocratic.
The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators and the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union want parts of Bill 18 overturned, saying it bans union activists from serving on college, institute and university boards of governors.
BCGEU president Darryl Walker says forcing elected board members to be removed because of their union involvement is an affront to democracy and that the government’s conflict-of-interest reasons for Bill 18 are unfounded.
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Cindy Oliver, president of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, says the two groups met with Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto to point out the flaws in the legislation, but their input was ignored.
Oliver says they joined the legal fight because their members’ democratic rights have been significantly impacted by the legislation.
She says there’s never been a problem involving faculty-elected positions on the boards of post-secondary institutions when those faculty have also been active in their local union.
Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto submitted the following statement to Global News:
“While I am not able to comment on the specifics of any pending or current legal matters, I can say that the changes we have made allow Boards to deal with conflict of interest situations. We value the participation of faculty, staff and students on our Boards-this has not changed. In fact, there are very few people who would be ineligible to sit on a Board. The legislation guards against the conflict of interest that results if an individual is-at the same time–representing an institution as a board member and sitting at a bargaining table as a union executive member.”
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