B.C.’s practical nurses join nurses’ union after 69 per cent vote

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s licensed practical nurses have voted to ditch their union and join the B.C. Nurses Union in an effort to be recognized as professional employees.

BCNU president Debra McPherson says 7,200 licensed practical nurses voted 69 per cent in favour of the move that has them leaving the Hospital Employees Union.

McPherson says B.C. is now the fourth province, after Nova Scotia, Quebec and Manitoba, to have practical and registered nurses represented by the same union.

She says the campaign to join the nurses’ union began about 10 years ago when licensed practical nurses approached the BCNU for membership.

McPherson says the BCNU initially rejected any such move because it may have been considered raiding the HEU.

However, she says the LPNs persisted because they wanted to be represented by a union that considered them professional workers instead of belonging to a union made up mostly of hospital support staff.