B.C. Nurses’ Union fires former president Gayle Duteil

The B.C. Nurses Union (BCNU) has fired its former president.

According to a bulletin posted on the union’s website, the BCNU’s governing council held a vote of non-confidence in Gayle Duteil on April 28.

As a result of the vote, Duteil was declared to no longer be a member in good standing, and thus ineligible to remain in office.

Duteil was placed on administrative leave last September, pending “an investigation into her conduct while acting in her capacity as BCNU president.”

Global News has requested comment from Duteil.

Last October, while filing a complaint to the Labour Relations Board over the suspension, Duteil told Global News that she was placed on leave over a complaint that the union refused to disclose to her.

The BCNU has not revealed details of the alleged misconduct, but says it was investigated by veteran arbitrators Vince Ready and Judi Korbin, whose report formed the basis of the council’s decision.

The union said it could not comment further on the investigation.

But it said the report came on the heels of a separate February decision from arbitrator Tom Hodges ruling Duteil had “engaged in communications with the union’s Provincial Nominations Committee during the BCNU’s 2017 Provincial Election in a manner that amounted to a flagrant attempt to threaten, interfere with and manipulate the Committee’s processes.”

That election ended with Duteil being acclaimed president after a slate of other candidates were disqualified just days before the scheduled vote.

The union’s nominations committee alleged the candidates had broken election rules and made defamatory statements, claims the candidates described as “trumped-up charges.”

The slate had been campaigning on a platform of reducing salaries and benefits of the BCNU’s president, executive and council.

Christine Sorensen, former acting union president, has now assumed the role of president.