BC Nurses’ Union Has Substantially Ceased to Represent Its Members
More than $600 million of taxpayer money parked at BCNU
Health Science Association (HSA) and BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) form the Nurses Bargaining Association (NBA) which is the counterparty of the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC).
A good indicator of BCNU’s general failure to represent its members is the comparison of BCNU’s and HSA’s annual reports. Year over year, BCNU’s reports have fewer pages, with only two pages of somewhat objective operating metrics. Whereas HSA’s reports are much lengthier and have detailed performance measures and stated dollar awards in favour of their members. In contrast to HSA’s, BCNU’s annual reports are strikingly and pathologically narcissistic.
BCNU and HSA suffer from the ideological cancer of Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI). DEI is the rebranding of racism and bigotry made to look cool. DEI results in severe and often crippling capital misallocation because it allocates resources based on feelings and group identities instead of factual merit. It appeals to useful idiots seeking an opportunity to conceal their incompetence by virtue-signalling their “goodness” of integrating other incompetents in places where they shouldn’t be. DEI adherents are easy to spot, they add pronouns following their name on their social media profiles and email signatures. A virtue-signalling statement that they operate on some ancestral Indigenous territory often follows their email signature. DEI causes institutions to fail and makes a home for corrupt behaviours.
BCNU and HSA engage in ideologically driven activities, such as DEI, instead of strictly representing their member’s working conditions. In that sense, both are misallocating members’ union dues. HSA has stage 3 DEI cancer, whereas BCNU’s DEI cancer is at stage 4 and is terminal.
* BCNU’s lack of focus and inappropriate attention to matters other than its members’ working conditions causes its failure to represent its members. *
Grievances Are Piling Up
The following table summarizes BCNU’s grievance activity over 2022 and 2023 with data taken from BCNU’s annual reports for 2022 and 2023.
New grievances opened increased by 146%, from 1352 to 3334 in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
In 2022, at least 2.9% of BCNU members opened a new grievance.
In 2023, at least 6.8% of BCNU members opened a new grievance.
BCNU doesn’t disclose the total amount of opened grievances, only the new ones. The absolute grievance rate of the entire union must be higher than 6.8%.
The New Unresolved Grievances grew from 87 in 2022 to 912 in 2023 at an explosive rate of 948% in one year.
The 2023 financial statements indicate that the Grievance Settlement Fund had balances of $1,380,152 and $1,290,064 in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The financial statements do not indicate any injection of new money in the Grievance Settlement Fund in 2023. Therefore, BCNU’s expense for grievances is $90,088 during 2023, or $37.20 per closed grievance. It speaks for itself.
In its 2023 annual report, HSA reported a concrete monetary impact of grievance awards of $213,141.32 in favour of its members. BCNU reported no monetary awards for its closed grievances in 2023. In 2023, HSA opened and closed 1140 and 1185 grievances respectively for a performance of a net -45 New Unresolved Grievances compared with BCNU’s explosion of a net New Unresolved Grievances of 912.
* The obvious conclusion is that BCNU is unable to manage member grievances. *
LTD Denial Appeals, WorkSafe Appeals, OHS Issues and WCB Cases Closed Have Cratered
The following table summarizes BCNU’s Long-Term Disability (LTD) claim denial appeals success rate, the success rate on WorkSafe appeals, the number of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues and Worker’s Compensation Board (WCB) cases closed.
In 2020, the LTD denial appeal success rate abruptly cratered to 71% from 95% in 2018.
WorkSafe appeals success rate dropped from 59% to 56% in 2022 and 2023.
The number of OHS Issues Answered dropped by 45% from 2344 in 2020 to 1289 in 2023.
The number of WCB Cases Closed Successfully dropped by 28.4% from 616 in 2017 to 441 in 2020, then in 2022 and 2023 BCNU ceased to report on that member representation metric.
The Expense line item on BCNU’s Consolidated Statement of Operations corresponding to the above activities is “Occupational Health and Safety” (OHS). In 2021 and 2023, BCNU’s OHS expense was $7,016,731 and $4,448,869 respectively, a drop of 36.6% over two years. Meanwhile, BCNU’s net operating profit grew from $5,966,377 to $17,010,066 in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
* BCNU had a whopping increase of 185% over the last two years in profitability while member representation for LTD claims, WorkSafe BC appeals, OHS issues and WCB cases worsened significantly. *
In 2023, HSA reported: “Our LTD advocates have continued their dedicated good work on behalf of our members and that diligence has resulted in the successful resolution of 27 appeal files in 2023, with an overall monetary benefit to those members of $12,194,682.”
In 2023, HSA reported: “Despite that we continue to achieve excellent results on behalf of our members, having successfully resolved 21 WCB appeals in 2023, representing a monetary value to HSA members of $1,398,723.”
* BCNU reported nothing of the sort in 2023, or even in the previous last 5 years. *
In 2023, HSA discussed its OHS initiative in great detail. HSA mentions in its 2023 Annual Report the word “OHS” 29 times, whereas BCNU mentions OHS three times in its substantially empty 2023 annual report.
The paucity of BCNU’s annual reports is a testimony to BCNU’s representation of its members. The lack of details and consistent measurable quantities shows that BCNU is on autopilot. There’s nobody at the helm (See the section below: BCNU Leadership in Disarray)
* BCNU is unaccountable to its members and fails to represent its members. *
Corinne Mori and hundreds of terminated nurses have formed a legal retainer group and have filed complaints with the BC Labour Board against BCNU for failing to represent them. BC Nurses with unresolved issues such as LTD claims, WorkSafe, WCB, OHS, etc. interested in joining Corinne Mori’s legal retainer, should contact Corinne’s group at https://www.bcnursesfightmandates.ca/contact or email at bcnunurses@gmail.com or Corinne Mori at stopmannow@gmail.com.
BCNU Stewards: Frontline Member Representatives
BCNU’s annual report for 2020, 2022 and 2023 provided the data for the following tables.
Since the mandates, about 70% of the worksites have a union representative and 30% don’t. In 2019, all worksites had at least one union representative.
The mandates decimated the stewards in 2022, they dropped by 35.5%, from 794 in 2019 to 512 in 2022.
The workload for the remaining stewards increased from 61.2 to 90.7 members per steward in 2022. A 48% increase in terms of additional members to represent per steward.
* The Covid-19 vaccination mandates crippled BCNU’s frontline representation. *
Mid-Career Nurses Are Quitting
BCNU discloses, in its annual reports, the number of members per 5-year seniority tranches.
BC is bleeding mid-career nurses with 5 to 15 years of seniority, massively leaving the profession.
Switch BC stated: “Research in January 2022 found 66% of health care workers reported feeling burnt out and 40% reported that they were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. To make matters worse, we also know that physicians and nurses are the least likely to seek help for mental health issues.”
In the 2023 Annual Report, Jim Gould, Interim CEO of BCNU for the last two years said: “I’ll also be monitoring the effectiveness of the recruitment and retention strategies we are pursuing to address the nurse staffing crisis.” BCNU’s retention strategies have failed, and so has Jim Gould.
BC Government Contributes Financially to BCNU
This is the accumulated unused and unspent BC Government money contributed to BCNU, over more than a decade, during the BC NDP and BC United Governments. As of December 2023, it totals $616 million. No other public union receives such egregiously misallocated and mismanaged public funds. In another post, I’ll cover more in-depth how these public funds corrupt BCNU.
Arising from the collective agreements between HEABC and the NBA (BCNU), the BC Government is financially over-contributing to BCNU knowing that BCNU is inept at substantially using the funds for their intended purposes.
The real reason HEABC is over-contributing such large amounts of money is to exert control over BCNU and prevent BCNU from going on strike.
* The money that HEABC dumps into BCNU is the price it pays to muzzle BCNU and maintain its mismanagement of public healthcare. *
The RBP Fund
Every year 1% of nurses’ wages is contributed to the RBP fund. This is something that started around the time that Kevin Falcon, the current BC United leader, was Minister of Health.
In 2023, BCNU has a Retiree Benefit Plan fund (RBP) of $499.5M. BCNU only expensed 0.771M, or 0.15% of the RBP, while it received $35.1M from the BC Government.
Section 1.12 of the NBA Retiree Benefits Program states:
A 0.15% payout is not even close to the risk-free interest generated by the RBP. It is obvious that the RBP is not administered to “secure post-retirement benefits to Eligible Retirees”
* Since the inception of the RBP, the activities of the Committee administering the RBP Fund have failed to use the RBP government contributions. The RBP fund could be subject to income tax. *
The Retiree Benefits Program documentation states:
* Since the recipients and eligible retirees have no right, title or interest to the $499.5M of the RBP Fund, BCNU owns that money. The HEABC’s financial contributions to BCNU may be taxable income. *
I look forward to seeing how the Canada Revenue Agency under the next federal conservative government, or a potential BC Conservative government forming next October will look at that. Since the $499.5M RBP Fund is public money, BCNU could be subject to the BC General Auditor’s attention.
I invite my readers to reach out to the BC General Auditor and the Canada Revenue Agency: Reporting suspected tax or benefit cheating in Canada – Overview.
The New Nurse Support Fund
As noted above, mid-career nurses with 5 to 15 years of seniority leave because they are stressed out or burning out. BCNU’s and the BC Government’s answer is to throw money at that problem under the guise of mental health or emotional support and hope it goes away. In 2023, BCNU received from the BC Government, $100M under the pretense of creating a Nurse Support Fund whose purpose is to pay for mental health services.
* Since the Nurse Support Fund has a balance of $100M as of December 2023, BCNU expensed $0 in 2023 of the Nurse Support Fund. *
The person responsible for the Nurse Support Fund is Kelley Charters.
BCNU Leadership is in Disarray
BCNU has seven executive positions. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) position has been vacant, since at least the beginning of 2023.
An unstable leadership explains why BCNU fails to represent its members. Using BCNU’s annual reports and news releases, the instability is obvious.
BCNU failed to produce single-year annual reports for 2018 to 2021. Instead, it produced two biennial reports and titled them “annual reports”.
COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Executive Turnover:
BCNU was without a CEO for at least 16 months when Cody Hedman was appointed in May 2021.
Cody Hedman went on leave sometime after October 20th, 2021 as this is his last documented involvement with BCNU.
In January 2022, BCNU appointed Jim Gould as interim CEO which he remains because Cody Hedman has not fully separated from BCNU.
* It is extremely suspicious that the President and CEO of BCNU left at the onset of the COVID-19 Vaccination mandates. *
BCNU doesn’t have a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), someone trained and competent to handle financial matters.
BCNU had one stable Chief Operating Officer (COO) until 2019. Except for a short-term appointment of Moninder Singh in 2022, BCNU had no stable COO responsible for the continuity and stability of operations. * Operations means representation of union members *
In 2023, the interim positions tripled and represented half of BCNU’s leadership.
* To rehabilitate BCNU, at the next annual convention, members must vote out every current elected executive, and appoint a slate of newcomers who are outsiders to BCNU bureaucracy. Then, these newly elected BCNU executives, must fire Jim Gould and appoint a new CEO, COO and CFO. Members must also pass resolutions to conduct a deep forensic audit and abandon DEI to return to a merit-based allocation of resources. *
In this picture of leadership instability, the only constant element is Sharon Sponton. That’s why she’s highlighted in yellow and deserves her special section next.
Sharon Sponton - BCNU Treasurer
In the 2023-2024 Annual Report, Sharon Sponton stated:
Sharon Sponton has consistently failed to produce financial statements with an unqualified audit opinion since at least 2018.12
An unqualified audit opinion is what common people understand as a “clean opinion”. It means that financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects. Instead, under Sharon Sponton, BCNU has consistently received heavily qualified audit opinions.
BCNU Members Misled on Union Finances Since at Least 2018
In the 2018-2019 Annual Report, Sharon Sponton stated to the members that BCNU received a “clean audit opinion”.
Since at least 2018, KPMG issued a heavily qualified opinion on BCNU financial statements:
A Qualified Audit Opinion is not a clean audit opinion. By misleading the members on the audit opinion, Sharon Sponton prevented the members from exercising prudent due diligence inquiries. Members would have found that the funds are not substantially distributed to retired nurses.
KPMG’s Basis for Qualified Opinion stated:
In 2023, Current Assets substantially represented $693M (90%) out of $768M Total Assets. This makes the audit reservation pervasive. I wonder why KPMG didn’t issue an adverse, or disclaimer of opinion.
In the 2016 Annual Report, Sharon Sponton stated:
A pie chart doesn’t prove anything. This is the kind of reasoning and incompetence you would get if a six-year-old kid with crayons oversaw finance.
A focus on real priorities is proven or demonstrated in a detailed annual report:
discussing the operating landscape and how it changes,
with consistent performance measures that are stable to an acceptable level or are improving,
showing yearly operating trends,
showing performance against other similar organizations,
management expresses sound forward-looking views on the above,
etc.
Sharon Sponton bamboozled the entire union membership since becoming BCNU treasurer. She’s getting away with this because there’s nobody around competent enough to ask the real questions.
BCNU Treasurer Sharon Sponton – BC Minister of Health Adrian Dix Connection
Sharon Sponton's misleading statement on BCNU’s audit opinion in BCNU’s 2018 Annual Report coincides with BC Health Minister, Adrian Dix, receiving a briefing that the Retiree Benefit Fund was not used for its intended purposes. This is documented in BC FOI request answer HTH-2020-04783 on p.91, 93, 110, and 111.3 It looks like this:
Sharon Sponton Special Re-Election After Anita Dickson’s Resignation
In May 2023 at BCNU’s annual convention members elected Anita Dickson as Treasurer. Elected BCNU executives enter their function the following September.
On November 19th, 2023, Corinne Mori’s reported on YouTube that:
BCNU provides condos for its executives who live in other parts of BC when they come to Vancouver for business
When Anita showed up for duties, the condo was still inhabited by Sharon Sponton
Sharon hadn’t moved out of her office at BCNU
As Anita was trying to get oriented, Adriane Gear had already appointed Sharon Sponton to the committees that Anita, as the new BCNU Treasurer should have been sitting on.
* It looks like Adriane Gear and Sharon Sponton colluded to reject the election of Anita Dickson as the new BCNU Treasurer: BCNU Members are NOT fairly represented. *
According to NBA Retire Benefit Program documentation, the RBP Fund is administered by a committee.
Anita Dickson should have been appointed to the RBP Committee. Anita would have found that the $499.5M RBP Fund is not being substantially distributed to retired nurses since Sharon Sponton became BCNU Treasurer.
Adriane Gear and Sharon Sponton are covering up half a billion of mismanaged money intended for the benefit of retired nurses; BCNU members and retirees have been deceived.
In the 2022- 2023 Annual Report, Sharon Sponton stated:
$500 is a sick joke in the context of rising inflation and a massive $499.M RBP fund. It is utterly disrespectful to retired nurses.
Thank you Lex for sharing and speaking out.
I was part of the CUPE useless union for years…..
Good for nothing except stealing from its members!
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏