Union praises city MLA

Union praises city MLA
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Dec. 8, 2002

The Hospital Employees Union believes it has found an unlikely ally in Burnaby-Willingdon MLA John Nuraney in its fight against contracting out at health care centres across B.C.
The union issued a press release Wednesday praising the rookie MLA for taking a Burnaby-based private hospital to task after it announced plans to lay off about 20 workers this week, with the intention of replacing them with new, non-union workers.
"I'm encouraged to see a Liberal caucus member exhibit this degree of independence and candour in his views on key government policies," HEU secretary-business manager Chris Allnutt said in the press release.
"I hope this marks the beginning of a broader discussion within government ranks about the consequences of replacing skilled and experienced workers with contractors paying low wages to less experienced employees."
At issue was a letter written by Nuraney to the private operators of Willingdon Park Hospital, cautioning them about the possible lowering of standards at the facility if new, inexperienced workers take over the housekeeping, laundry, food service and maintenance jobs at the site.
"This (worker replacement), in my opinion, may result in inefficiencies and deficiencies in the standards that are laid out by the Fraser Health Authority," Nuraney wrote after about 100 angry HEU members rallied outside the private hospital in west Burnaby on Wednesday.
Contacted after the HEU issued its press release, Nuraney said he is not opposed to the concept of contracting out, however, he wants to ensure that quality of care does not suffer as a result.
"I am worried because when you are replacing experienced workers with inexperienced workers it's obvious the quality and standards may suffer," Nuraney said. "What I need to do is ensure that does not happen. That was not the intention of this exercise."
But while Nuraney's letter states that he will ask the Fraser Health Authority to "ensure that the proper standards and regulations are followed," officials with the health board say he may be pointing his finger in the wrong direction.
Don Bower, a communications consultant for the FHA, said the local health authority only provides the funding for the hospital, while the licensing is done directly by the provincial health ministry.
"That hospital is licensed directly by the ministry of health and comes under their authority," Bower said Thursday. "We fund but we don't license."
Nuraney admitted the lines of responsibility may be unclear, but he will follow the issue to make sure standards at the hospital are maintained.
"This is between the ministry and the health authority, but the line of decision making lies somewhere in between," Nuraney said. "So that's why this (his letter) is there - to find out who is responsible to ensure the standards are met. We are in the process of restructuring, and one thing we have to be careful about is that we don't diminish the standards of service."
Nuraney was also careful to state that his concerns are not meant as a criticism of Bill 29, the legislation which allows health authorities and other health care facility operators to contract out services currently provided by unionized personnel.
"On the whole, I'm hearing good things about the government's moving forward," Nuraney said. "I think most of the fears that cutbacks will really affect everyone, well, now they're beginning to see that is not the case."
But Nuraney also had some criticism for the way labour unions have handled the changes and said the unions should allow their members to vote on proposed wage cuts or loss of union certification.
"I would like the unions also to be a little more flexible in these kinds of environments because ideally, as a business person, I would have thought before layoff notices are given to employees, that there should be a process of consultation with the employee and employer where the employer can candidly put his case before the group to say this is what I can comfortably afford to give.
"Give them (union members) the first option of refusal. That is not happening right now because the union's own structure says representatives of the union will negotiate. That is a major barrier to arriving at a compromise settlement.
"Right now what is happening is if there is a layoff under Bill 29, they're out on the street cold, and there is no recourse. The unions would have to recognize the reality of this legislation and help those workers who are affected and allow them to retain their jobs on a renegotiated deal."
Last week, the Romanow commission on health care was released and the document called on government to curtail the use of private operators for providing direct health care. However, the report leaves the door open to the use of non-government contract services in the 'non-clinical' areas.
The laid off workers at Willingdon Park Hospital include seven housekeeping and laundry staff who were let go last month, plus another 11 workers, mostly in dietary services, given layoff notices effective next month.
Mike Olds, an HEU spokesperson, said his union disagrees with the assertion that housekeeping and laundry are not essential parts of health care.
"There is lots of evidence that shows housekeeping and laundry are critical parts of quality of care," Olds said. "Basically, he (Romanow) had some strong words about publicly delivered diagnostic services, but he was more hands-off with ancillary services. We think that's a serious omission in the report.
"It doesn't take away from the fact that the report found, based on the evidence, that public services are more efficient than private services. Based on the evidence, we think that's true for ancillary services, too," Olds said.