Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) Collection Index
Published: October 27, 2026
Authors: BCLHC
An index to the oral histories, articles, videos, historical newsletters and classroom resources in the BC Labour Heritage Centre collection that relate to the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU), which represents hospital and other health-care workers in BC. Browse the interviews by person, follow a subject such as Bill 29 or pay equity across every kind of source, or find lesson plans that pair with the material.
Jump to: Interviews | Other Materials | Selected Topics | Classroom Resources
The collection follows HEU from its 1950 newsletter, The Guardian, through the organizing drives of the 1970s and 1980s, the 1992 strike, the 2002 Bill 29 contracting-out fight, and the 2007 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that came out of it, to the union’s work during COVID-19. Most of it comes from the voices of people who built and led the union.
What’s in the collection:
- Thirteen oral history interviews with HEU leaders, staff, organizers and activists, all with downloadable transcripts
- Articles on HEU’s fight against privatization and its same-sex spousal benefits win
- Videos, including a short Labour Heritage Moment on collective bargaining rights
- The Guardian, HEU’s newsletter from 1950 to 2002, as downloadable PDFs
- Classroom lesson plans that pair well with this material
How to use it:
- To find a person, use the table in “Interviews by person.”
- To see everything that isn’t an interview, go to “Articles, videos and historical materials.”
- To follow a subject such as Bill 29 or pay equity, use “Browse by selected topics,” which gathers the interviews, articles and videos on each one.
- Teachers can start with “Using this material in the classroom.”
Interviews by person
Thirteen people with HEU careers or deep HEU involvement are interviewed in the Oral History Collection, listed here alphabetically by surname. All interviews include a transcript.
| Person | HEU connection | Interview date |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Allnutt | Researcher from 1989; Secretary-Business Manager from 1996; led HEU through the Bill 29 fight | May 7, 2024 |
| Carmela Allevato | Joined in 1985 to bring workers’ compensation cases in-house; later Secretary-Business Manager; led the 1992 strike | Oct 3, 2022 |
| Hans Brown: Part 1, Part 2 | At HEU 1974 to 1987; led pay equity and job classification work | Part 1: Aug 15, 2017; Part 2: Sep 8, 2017 |
| Judy Darcy | Secretary-Business Manager from 2005; reorganized contracted-out workers; launched the living wage campaign | Apr 20, 2023 |
| Colleen Fuller | Organizing at St. Mary’s Hospital, Sechelt; the 1990s health-care cuts fights; Solidarity in 1983 | May 23, 2023 |
| Joey Hartman | Assistant to president Fred Muessen for about nine and a half years; led a team organizing privatized hospital workers after Bill 29 | Apr 19, 2024 |
| Mary LaPlante | Organized Prince Rupert Hospital clerical staff; Local Chair; provincial Financial Secretary; the Sister Mary LaPlante Award is named for her | Jul 8, 2019 |
| Geoff Meggs | Communications director from 1990 | Jun 13, 2023 |
| Mike Old | Staff 1997 to 2023; Director of Communications; interim Secretary-Business Manager during COVID-19 | May 5, 2025 |
| Bonnie Pearson | Helped rebuild HEU after the 2002 Bill 29 layoffs and the 2007 Supreme Court decision | Aug 23, 2017 |
| Jim Quail | HEU legal director; helped design the Bill 29 constitutional challenge | Apr 18, 2024 |
| Kristina Vandervoort | Hospital clerk and local secretary-treasurer; HEU’s first support staff hire from the membership; political action coordinator | Apr 28, 2023 |
| Sharon Yandle | At HEU about 1974 to 1986; organized private hospital workers; the 1981 Windermere strike; long-term care bargaining; later at the BCTF | Apr 19, 2016 |
Articles, videos, and historical materials
| Type | Title | Date / creator |
|---|---|---|
| Article | Hospital Employees’ Union Fights Privatization | Sep 9, 2021; Rod Mickleburgh and Bailey Garden |
| Article | Collective Bargaining: A Charter Right | Jun 3, 2024; Donna Sacuta |
| Article | In Sickness & In Health: HEU Win Broadens Definition of ‘Spouse’ | Jul 9, 2024; BC Labour Heritage Centre |
| Article | Union Organizing in BC’s Private Hospitals | Apr 17, 2020; Donna Sacuta |
| Video | Collective Bargaining Rights (Labour Heritage Moment) | Raj Chouhan |
| Video | BC At Work, Episode 4 | Sep 25, 1988; for the BC Federation of Labour |
| Historical material | The Guardian, 1950–2002 | HEU newsletter |
About The Guardian. HEU’s newsletter began in 1950 as a mimeographed publication and was relaunched as the Hospital Guardian in 1958. This archive is the largest primary-source resource on HEU on the site. Issues after 2002 are on the current HEU website, which the archive page links to.
Browse by selected topics
Each topic lists the interviews first, then related articles, videos and other material.
- Bill 29 and the fight against privatization: Interviews with Chris Allnutt, Judy Darcy, Joey Hartman, Mike Old, Bonnie Pearson and Jim Quail. Also the article Hospital Employees’ Union Fights Privatization.
- The 2007 Supreme Court ruling and collective bargaining rights: Interviews with Mary LaPlante, Mike Old, Jim Quail and Chris Allnutt. Also the article Collective Bargaining: A Charter Right and the video Collective Bargaining Rights.
- Organizing private hospitals and long-term care: Interviews with Sharon Yandle, Joey Hartman and Colleen Fuller. Also the article Union Organizing in BC’s Private Hospitals.
- The 1981 Windermere strike: Interview with Sharon Yandle.
- Pay equity and job classification: Interviews with Hans Brown (Part 1, Part 2) and Carmela Allevato.
- The 1992 strike: Interview with Carmela Allevato.
- Operation Solidarity (1983): Interview with Colleen Fuller. Also the Operation Solidarity key topic page.
- Same-sex spousal benefits: The article In Sickness & In Health: HEU Win Broadens Definition of ‘Spouse’, which links to the interviews with Kristina Vandervoort and Bonnie Pearson.
- Women in the union: Interviews with Mary LaPlante, Sharon Yandle and Kristina Vandervoort.
- Living wage campaign: Interview with Judy Darcy.
- Union communications: Interviews with Geoff Meggs and Mike Old. Also The Guardian, 1950–2002.
- COVID-19: Interview with Mike Old.
Teaching Resources
No lesson plan on the site is specifically about HEU, but five existing ones pair well with the interviews, articles and videos above.
| Lesson | Connection | Pair it with |
|---|---|---|
| Operation Solidarity | Includes a “Resolve the problem without a union” activity on the case for collective bargaining rights | The video Collective Bargaining Rights; the Colleen Fuller interview |
| Vancouver Steam Laundries Strike 1918 | Laundry workers; the union offered to run the general hospital laundry unpaid during the 1918 flu. Laundry was also one of the services HEU fought to keep in-house. | The article Hospital Employees’ Union Fights Privatization |
| Social Justice 12 Labour History | Lesson 8 (Workers and the Law) and Lesson 9 (Labour Leaders) are natural places to add this material | The Collective Bargaining Rights video and article; the Chris Allnutt and Judy Darcy interviews |
Use and Citation
© BC Labour Heritage Centre. All rights reserved. The interviews, transcripts and summaries in this collection may be used for research. For any other use, including publication, broadcast or commercial use, please contact us at [email].
Transcripts have been edited with a “clean verbatim” style. If you are quoting an interview, please check the passage against the recording.
To cite an interview: [Interviewee], interview by [Interviewer(s)], [date], Oral History Collection, BC Labour Heritage Centre, [URL of the interview page].
Example: Mike Old, interview by Ken Novakowski, May 5, 2025, Oral History Collection, BC Labour Heritage Centre, https://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/collection/mike-old-interview-a-remarkable-career-at-the-heu/