Anne Harvey
Interviewed by Phil Legg
Anne Harvey was born in a tenement in Manchester, U.K. Her father made patterns out of wood for casting metal parts, and her mother sewed clothes piecework as he built his pattern making business. Anne moved to Canada with her husband and children in the 1970s and sought work as a journalist in radio and then print journalism. She eventually got a job at B.C. Hydro writing the employee newsletter. After that she went on union leave to write a newsletter for her union, the OTEU Local 378 (now known as MoveUP). Soon after she was reassigned to work as a business representative where she did organizing and shop steward training. About six years later, in a surprise upset, she was elected as president of Local 378, at a time when it was rare for women to be elected as union presidents. After two terms, she was not re-elected and returned to her job at BC Hydro. About a year later she was hired by the BCNU (British Columbia Nurses’ Union) as its chief operating officer. During her time at the BCNU, Anne engaged in issues resulting from health care reorganization. In 1993 she was one of the negotiators of the 1993 Health Labour Accord, which established the Health Labour Adjustment Agency. After she left the BCNU, Anne was employed as the vice-president of employee engagement at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
Keywords
Mancunians; U.K. class system; Office and Technical Employees’ Union, Local 378 (OTEU, Local 378); B.C. Hydro; Bill Vander Zalm; Ken Georgetti; B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU); Carmela Allevato; Health Sciences Association (HSA); Glen Clark; Harcourt government; Royal Commission Closer to Home (B.C. Royal Commission on Health Care and Costs); Shaughnessy Hospital; Health Labour Adjustment Agency; Gary Moser; Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; interest-based bargaining; nurse practitioners; the organizing model; health care reorganization