Joan Jessome, Janet Hazelton at odds heading into arbitration

The province's top union leaders are once again at odds over the province's plan to reorganize health-care unions and the head of Nova Scotia's largest public sector union says the head of the nurse's union is to blame.

Joan Jessome, president the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, says her union and two others wanted a mediator to look at the idea of setting up a bargaining association, but Janet Hazelton of the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union refused to support the idea.

The provincially appointed mediator, James Dorsey, is now moving to binding arbitration.

Jessome said she felt "kicked in the gut" by the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union decision.

"The opportunity to fix this for all health-care workers and for the system just disappeared because the NSNU refused to discuss a bargaining association," Jessome told reporters on Tuesday.

"To say that we were disappointed is an understatement."

A bargaining association would allow union members to remain in their current unions but collective bargaining would take place at a common table. That would allow the province to cut down the current number of negotiating tables from 50.

The governing Liberals are hoping to cut that number down to four by having only one union represent one set of workers.

For example, the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union would represent all registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. There would be three other categories: clerical, health care and support, each represented by just one union.

Nurses' union stands to gain thousands of members

The current system has the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union representing the most health-care workers in the Halifax area. The Nova Scotia Nurses' Union, meanwhile, only represents nurses. It has members across the province.

Jessome said she believes the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union isn't interested in her proposal because it stands to gain thousands of nurses under government-mandated binding arbitration.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents a variety of health workers in a variety of areas, while Unifor has most of its members on Cape Breton Island.

The 45 days set aside for mediation expired at midnight on Nov. 17, which means Dorsey now becomes an arbitrator with the power to impose a settlement.

An arbitration hearing will be held beginning Dec. 9, though Jessome said her union has asked Dorsey to first hear a constitutional challenge to the process.

Hazelton, the president of the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union, was unavailable for comment but the union issued a news release saying the government's law has put unions in a difficult position and does little to foster good relations within the labour movement.

Bill 1 stipulates that the issue must be resolved by New Year's Day.