A lawyer for the province slammed the position put forward by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union at an arbitration hearing Wednesday.

The hearing before arbitrator James Dorsey is being held to divide 24,000 hospital workers — including nurses, licensed practical nurses, lab techs, paramedics, clerks and cooks — into four bargaining groups represented by four separate unions.

The NSGEU position is that provisions for freedom of association in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms give workers the right to choose a union, a choice now being denied by a provincial law that re-assigns health-care workers.

It is an argument that was called "very strange" and "bizarre" Wednesday by the province's lawyer, Alex Cameron.

"There's nothing in the Constitution that compels the vote demanded by the NSGEU, nor the bargaining association being sought by CUPE," Cameron said.

"Whether the complaints are well-founded is a political question and not a constitutional question."

'No choice for teachers, civil servants'

According to the province's Health Authorities Act, only one union can represent any one group of workers.

The legislation is part of the province's move to realign labour contracts as it consolidates nine district health authorities into one provincial body next April.

Cameron told the arbitrator that if the NSGEU argument were valid, the Nova Scotia Civil Service Act would become "unconstitutional" because it requires all workers for the provincial government to become members of the NSGEU.

The legislation offers no other choice. Cameron pointed out there is also no choice for teachers in the province who must sign up with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

NSGEU defends position

NSGEU president Joan Jessome accuses the government of "comparing apples and oranges."

"It's a historic thing," Jessome says. "There wasn't another union choice at the time. The NSGEU formed the bargaining association for civil servants, we became the NS Government Employees Union in later years."

"When you become a civil servant, you are an NSGEU member. When you become a teacher you become a NSTU member.

"That's established because those unions have organized and already put those workers in place. That's not what we are talking about here.

"In health care, these workers are already in their unions and are being moved out through legislation. Very different."

Cameron says the charter protects individual rights only until a union is formed — after that, group rights take priority and the union "brand" usually doesn't matter.

Arbitrator Dorsey questioned whether a union could be imposed when the majority of workers don't want it.

Cameron said that's not a charter issue that should block the province's plan to reduce the number of contract negotiations from 50 to four.

The hearing continues all week.

