The Hospital Employees Union says layoffs coming to people who do jobs like cleaning at Vancouver Coastal Health facilities show privatization in the health care sector is creating big problems.
More than 900 people are losing their jobs, including more than 30 on the Sunshine Coast, because the US based company Aramark has lost a contact it’s held since 2003.
Mike Old of the HEU says it’s not just the workers who will be hurt.
In a statement Monday the HEU said, “Contracting out, contract flipping and sales of business will become more and more frequent as B.C.’s privatization of seniors’ care and hospital support services enters its second decade…Â We need better protections in place to ensure that hospital services and seniors’ care is not thrown into chaos as a result of contracting out and contract flipping.”
The facilities involved on the Sunshine Coast include St. Mary’s Hospital, Shorncliffe and Kiwanis Village.
Layoff notices went out last week. They’ll start taking effect in August.
