‘Inappropriate’: Kelowna man upset by union’s campaign to influence who he voted for – Kelowna News

Photo: Contributed

Some of the HEU pamphlets sent to Kevin Hamilton.

A local member of the Hospital Employees Union is upset by his union’s literature campaign during the recent BC election, which urged its members to vote for the BC NDP.

Kevin Hamilton works as a medical device reprocessing technician at Kelowna General Hospital and has been part of the Hospital Employees Union for about a year and a half. This was the first election he was part of the union in and he says he was surprised to receive pamphlets, emails, text messages and phone calls throughout the campaign trying to convince him to vote for the BC NDP.

“At first I was surprised by how direct it was, HEU was directly telling its members to vote a particular way and I thought, ‘Wow, this is quite inappropriate,'” Hamilton said.

“These people have really put a lot of energy into this partisan-type campaign.”

Hamilton wrote a letter to his union outlining his concerns, noting that his letter was written on behalf of six of his other colleagues who wanted to remain anonymous. He said that even after asking the HEU to remove him from the mailing list, he continued to receive leaflets.

HEU pamphlets shared with Castanet describe “What We Have Gained Under the British Columbia NDP Government” and “What Happened to Health Care When John Rustad’s Former Party was in Power.”

“John Rustad’s Conservatives in British Columbia want to cut and privatize health care; Let’s make sure they don’t,” reads one pamphlet.

“In this provincial election, Loyal Wooldridge has the best chance of winning against John Rustad’s Conservatives in Kelowna Centre…HEU recommends all members vote for Loyal Wooldridge of the BC NDP.”

Hamilton, 51, says he contacted Elections BC to see if his union’s communication is allowed, and was told yes.

“They can do it legally, but it’s morally wrong,” Hamilton said. “People apparently call (Elections BC) pretty regularly to talk about these particular unions and how they advertise in a partisan way.”

‘Long tradition of activism’

In a written statement from HEU spokesperson Lynn Bueckert, she said the union has a “long tradition of activism during and between elections in support of pro-labor parties and governments.”

“In the recent provincial election, our union took advantage of every opportunity to let HEU members know what was at stake for health care,” Bueckert said.

“We highlighted how John Rustand and his BC Conservative platform on healthcare was a reckless plan for the future of the healthcare system. And that HEU supported the BC NDP’s commitment to continue its work to expand and improve public health care.”

But Hamilton, who is also an active West Kelowna RCMP officer and a member of the National Police Federation, says he has never seen a union put so much pressure on its members to vote for a specific party.

“(The National Police Federation) reinforces our rights within the collective agreement but they do not dictate who we vote for,” he said.

“I’ve been a part of many different unions over the years in different races and I’ve never seen this level of rhetoric.”

Job security

She is also concerned about some of the union’s messaging that said her job security could be threatened if the BC Conservatives formed government, noting that many of her colleagues are first-generation immigrants.

“When they start reading this literature about the possibility of losing their jobs if a different government comes in, it really bothers them and scares them,” Hamilton said. “I don’t have that problem because I have another career and I have planned for the future, but these people don’t have that, so this kind of rhetoric as part of this HEU campaign is quite frightening for many.” my colleagues.

“I thought, job security? Are you kidding me? “We can barely get enough people together to keep the operating rooms running.”

The HEU says it has heard thousands of its members talk about its “HEU Votes” campaign and the response has been “overwhelmingly favourable”.