| Dear CUPE 917 Member,
We are urgently requesting your support this week. Members of CUPE Local 917 have fought hard for our extended health benefits, and to access them we rely on our benefits provider, Pacific Blue Cross.
Right now, Pacific Blue Cross (PBC) plan members can vote to elect new directors to the PBC Board. As plan members, the health and well-being of you and your family are directly impacted by the decisions made by the PBC Board of Directors.
There is a lot at stake in this election. This year, Dr. Brian Day is running to be a director of the PBC Board. Dr. Day has a long and well-documented history of trying to dismantle public health care. He wants to be on the Board so he can promote his own privatization agenda, not because he has the best interests of PBC members at heart.
CUPE 1816, which represents PBC workers, has endorsed three candidates for the Board:
- Jaime Matten
- Dr. Patricia Gerber
- Dr. Chuanyi (Johnny) Nie
Jaime Matten is the Executive Director of the BC Federation of Labour and has dedicated her career to fighting for workers and the community. Dr. Patricia Gerber is a pharmacist who knows the importance of secure and reliable extended health benefits to support people’s access to prescriptions. Dr. Johnny Nie is an emergency health physician in the interior. Everyday he sees that people who have access to good benefits have better health outcomes, and that is what he wants to support.
These candidates are also endorsed by CUPE BC and the BC Federation of Labour. All three of them want PBC to remain a strong, not-for-profit health insurance provider. Electing them is the best way to keep Dr. Day from joining the board and pursuing his agenda to privatize the public health care you rely on.
How to vote:
- Voting is happening right now online via the PBC website. Click here to vote for our endorsed candidates.
- The voting period closes Monday, June 17 at 4:30 p.m. You must vote online during this period for your vote to count.
- To vote, you will need your Policy Number 40704 and ID Number (Uvic V number so include the two zeros at the beginning 00________), which you can find on your PBC ID card. You’ll also need your birth date.
- If you are on an FNHA plan: in the policy number field, enter 40000. Enter your Status Card number in the ID Number field.
- If you have trouble voting, you can contact PBC for help during business hours at 604-419-2098
Let’s make sure that PBC’s Board of Directors remains committed to prioritizing people over profits.
Vote today for Jaime Matten, Patricia Gerber, and Chuanyi (Johnny) Nie to help us protect the benefits we’ve fought so hard for.
In Solidarity,
CUPE 917 Executive.
Jaime Matten’s entire career has focused on supporting progressive organizations in British Columbia, from small volunteer coalitions to complex labour federations. She is dedicated to strengthening the programs and services that make our province better. As the Executive Director for the BC Federation of Labour, she works with unions in every corner of the province and every sector of the economy to advance the rights of working people to fair wages, safer workplaces, good benefits, and economic security. She knows that workers around the province rely on extended health benefits from Pacific Blue Cross every day. Jaime wants to see the provision of critical services through a non-profit model continue to be PBC’s focus. She looks forward to being on a Board of Directors that continues to put people front and centre in their decision making.
Johnny Nie is an Emergency Physician at the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. His professional interests include resuscitation simulation, teaching, and quality improvement, and he has research background in immunology and virology. At Royal Inland Hospital he is a Clinical Instructor for the Department of Emergency Medicine at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine. Johnny speaks Japanese, Mandarin, and English. Johnny has thorough knowledge of good governance and a deep passion for making a healthier community through access to a broad array of health services. Working in the emergency room at one of the busiest hospitals in the province, he regularly sees the impact that good extended health benefits can have on the health and well-being of everybody. Johnny will strengthen Pacific Blue Cross to ensure that all members can continue to benefit from its services for many years to come.
Dr. Gerber is currently the Director of Degree Programs for Pharmacists, and is leading the development of the new Professional Master’s degree program for pharmacists at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Gerber has published in several clinical and academic journals, has been an invited speaker in national and international conferences, and continues to serve in several national and international scholarly roles. Her excellence in teaching has seen her nominated for the Pharmacy Teacher of the Year Award every year between 2020 and 2023. She has been a member of the Pacific Blue Cross Board of Directors since 2019. She is committed to ensuring that Pacific Blue Cross continues to be a source of reliable, high quality benefits supporting workers and residents in British Columbia. |
