Doctors recently called out factually incorrect statements by Yukon health authorities in the News, and now unions representing health-care workers are quitting a committee, featuring the same authorities, that’s geared to getting more health-care workers in the Yukon.
On Oct. 7, a joint press release announced the Yukon Employees’ Union (YEU) and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) are leaving the Health and Human Resources Steering Committee, effective immediately.
The unions argue they haven’t been given proper and equal consideration on the committee. They say health-care workers’ interests aren’t being considered. Concerns raised by unions aren’t being incorporated and union representatives often weren’t given the chance for meaningful contributions.
In the release, YEU president Justin Lemphers suggested workers are being “tokenized” by the Yukon government and the Yukon Hospital Corporation, the employers who co-chair the committee.
The release indicates the minister overstated union involvement while speaking to the media.
According to the release, the unions refused to endorse an annual report for release to the public due to the report representing an “ongoing lack of employee engagement and the continued reliance on precarious for-profit staffing agencies.”
“Workers deserve better. The unions believe that improving wages, enhancing work-life balance, and increasing the number of full-time unionized positions are essential to retaining local health-care workers and attracting health-care workers from other jurisdictions,” reads the release.
Per the release, the unions will only return to the table if given a “genuine seat.”
Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee told reporters that the unions have been an “extremely valuable voice.”
Although she doesn’t sit at the table and drawing her information from media reports, McPhee accused the unions of using the steering committee table as a negotiating table for wages and contracts. McPhee wondered if they have their own interests in mind.
“This is not the table for that. This is a table where we need their expertise in order to determine how to increase the workforce of our frontline health-care workers. And it's been quite successful,” she said.
“I appreciate that they have given notice to the Yukon government that they intend to start bargaining for the contract that will end in March of 2025 and as a result, that might be influencing them.”
McPhee said the unions came to the steering committee table in 2023 and they were responsible, in part, for developing the Health Human Resources Strategy.
The steering committee’s role is to implement that strategy, which was released in December 2023 and has been highly touted by authorities.
When asked in the legislature by Watson Lake MLA Patti McLeod of the Yukon Party why the government isn’t seriously considering health-care workers’ views and why the committee was set up this way, McPhee responded that she had “absolute great confidence” in the people who are working on the strategy.
McPhee described the “unique” committee made up of unions, educators, the nurses’ association, the medical association and the hospital corporation.
“The unions that are being mentioned here in the questions participated willingly in the development of that strategy,” she said.
McLeod pressed McPhee on why health-care workers have to keep correcting the minister’s public comments about the health system.
Premier Ranj Pillai rose to respond.
Pillai noted a proposed ministerial statement, which was rejected by the opposition house leaders, would’ve been a good opportunity to have a more fulsome conversation than in question period. The statement, which was provided to the News and released on the government website as a statement, is basically a list of achievements with a prepared response to potential opposition feedback.
Pillai said the committee is the “first of its kind.”
“Hopefully organized labour will come back to the table,” he said.
Yukon NDP Leader Kate White said it’s not a good look for the Yukon government to have unions walk away like this.
“The (Yukon government’s) definition of collaboration is significantly different than anyone else's, whether we look at transfer stations or the relocation of the École Whitehorse Elementary School or union participation in the Health Human Resources Strategy, right?” White said.
“I really think this is one of the times where they’ve got to hold up the mirror and take a good long look and figure out how to collaborate better with others.”
The Yukon Party brought up the matter again in question period on Oct. 10, wondering why McPhee would dismiss the union's concerns as a bargaining tactic.
"I don't dismiss anything, and more importantly, nor do the individuals who have come to this table," McPhee said.
McPhee mentioned a meeting with the affected unions soon.
The Official Opposition also tied the matter to a collective agreement dispute over wages between the teachers' union and the Yukon government, ultimately asking why Liberal cabinet ministers are picking fights with unions representing educators and health-care workers.
Pillai took a stand to suggest that what the unions really want to know is which areas of government the Yukon Party would want to privatize if they took power.
"Is it just Crown corporations or which areas, because I'll tell you, that's what unions want to know," he said.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com