As a member, Bains was repeatedly advised to be respectful with staff. Instead, he has targeted the staff who have worked with him with mass smear emails. He has continued this behavior even though he is no longer a member. Below you will see examples of this behaviour and the union’s and arbitrator’s responses.
The union has taken action to stop the harassing behaviour by calling the RCMP numerous times and sending four cease and desist letters.
Bains has attempted to access private information from the HEU President’s employer and staff’s former employers.
An arbitrator has characterized Bains’ behaviour saying “he appears to have been unable to help himself from attacking those who he thought was behind the decisions against his interests.”
Public attacks on staff and the HEU executive
For nearly two years staff and Provincial Executive members have been subjected to unrelenting attacks based on false information. Bains frequently names and blames the union and specific individuals for perceived (but unproven) wrongdoing. He created dozens of email addresses so he cannot be blocked. He posts falsehoods on social media and his website. His attacks are unrelenting, not based in fact and are causing harm to the individuals he targets and to the union.
These attacks have taken a toll on staff and members who have faced relentless online attacks on their character and risk to their reputations.
RCMP calls
The RCMP have been called several times to report Jessie’s harassing behaviours.
Calls were made to the RCMP – once in 2024, once in 2025 and three times in 2026.
On several occasions Bains has shown up in person at the union office and events and he refused to leave until he was escorted off the premises.
Cease and desist letters
On four occasions, HEU has sent cease and desist letters to protect people from his harassing behavior. Bains has ignored each of the cease and desist letters.
Targeting of the president and staff personally
In April 2024, Bains contacted the Interior Health Authority, HEU President Barb Nederpel’s employer, to obtain personal information about her eligibility to run for union office. In May 2025, Bains filed a Freedom of Information request to Interior Health to obtain personal information about Nederpel. This is an attempted invasion of her privacy and a blatant attempt to discredit the union with the employer.
Bains has done the same thing to staff at HEU – calling their employers, or former employers, in order to obtain personal information. These attempted invasions of privacy are unacceptable.
Rinse and repeat
An experienced labour arbitrator Chris Sullivan, who was appointed as the Industry Troubleshooter to hear Bains' grievance, sums up Bains' approach in one of his rulings. The full decision is here.
Below is an excerpt from pages 13-15:
“This manner of responding to individuals one does not agree with – i.e. sending an email to them and copying politicians, union officials and a media personality – appears to be a tactic by the Grievor (Bains), perhaps to deter people from making decisions against his interest or comments he does not agree with. In any event, this was not the first time he took this approach and will likely not be the last. While the use of such tactic in any given case may or may not be inappropriate, in the present case the tactic has inflamed matters, and has highlighted fundamental and irreconcilable trust issues between the Grievor and the Employer’s Human Resources department.”
“I cannot help but point out that the Grievor (Bains) is, to a great degree, author of his own misfortune in the way he has chosen to dispute actions or outcomes that he does not agree with or believes is not fair from his standpoint. Instead of letting his selection grievances run their course, which may have resulted in him obtaining the IT position he sought, he appears to have been unable to help himself from attacking those who he thought was behind the decisions against his interests. His harassment grievance can be viewed as an example of such, and it appears he has taken this same general approach with [the Investigator] and the Employer by disseminating the investigation report and his email of complaint to an external audience that included high ranking politicians and union officials, the law firm Mr. Barager works at, and to a local media personality.”
Privacy notice and disclaimer: Certain personal information has been redacted from the published documents to protect individual privacy, consistent with British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The opinions and statements expressed by Jessie Bains are his own and do not represent the views or official positions of the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU).