The decision has been made – 100 Mile District General Hospital will keep its in-house laundry services.
At its board meeting on March 1, the Interior Health Authority (IHA) board decided to let the hospitals in 100 Mile House, Golden, Ashcroft, Princeton, Lillooet and Williams Lake keep their own laundry services.
This decision is a huge victory for the communities with the smaller hospitals because it means there will be no job losses, which would have happened if the laundry services were privatized.
Opposition to the privatization scheme grew over the months since the privatization plan was first introduced, with almost 13,000 citizens signing a petition against the job losses.
Municipal councils, including the District of 100 Mile House, passed motions objecting to privatization.
Local Health Employees’ Union (HEU) members were out in force waving flags, carrying signs and a clothesline pinned with T-shirts, on the corner of First Street and Highway 97 on Feb. 29.
They were rallying in support of hospital laundry workers in their fight
to protect their jobs.
There would have been at least four people losing their jobs here, says HEU local chair and shop steward Barb Matfin.
She noted that if a private company came into the facilities and collected the laundry, it may have impacted more jobs.
However, the services in larger centres – Kelowna, Kamloops, Nelson, Penticton and Vernon – will be privatized.
Today’s decision by the IHA to contract out hospital laundry services is deeply disappointing news for more than 100 workers who will lose their jobs in five communities, says HEU secretary-business manager Jennifer Whiteside.
“Over the past year, there’s been a groundswell of public concern about the economic impact that privatizing hospital laundry will have on Interior communities.
“Privatizing a public, in-house hospital service that IHA admits is running efficiently doesn’t make sense.
“Not for the patients and surgical teams who rely on timely, sterile linens. Not for the people who do this vital work. And not for the communities that will be impacted by job loss.”
She says the HEU will advocate for the rights of members facing layoff through the labour relations process to support them during this difficult time.
While many people argue the cost savings of outsourcing laundry service would be marginal over the long term, there are also concerns about the integrity of the program, especially in terms of laundry delivery and contamination, Whiteside adds.
Recently, Simon Fraser University economist Marvin Shaffer reviewed two IHA documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, to analyze the health authority’s rationale for outsourcing its laundry services.
Whiteside says he found no valid business case for privatization.
