Union still protesting

Union still protesting
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published May 7, 2003

Just because the Hospital Employees Union is recommending its members accept a limited amount of contracting out of their jobs, that doesn't mean the union is happy about it.
That unhappiness was made obvious last week when the HEU issued a press release decrying the contracting out of 35 care aide jobs at the private Willingdon Park Hospital in Burnaby.
The contracting out of 'direct patient care jobs' was described as both "provocative and unnecessary" in an HEU press release issued April 29.
"The significance of this move is that these are the direct care staff who take care of seniors every day," HEU secretary-business manager Chris Allnutt said Monday afternoon. "It drives home the point that the legislation in Bill 29 allows the privatizing and contracting out of direct care in the province.
"This will have a double effect," he said. "It will drive workers' wages down, and that's significant because it means you won't have long service workers, and the flip side of that is it hurts the quality of care that seniors get."
His comments come just two weeks after the HEU reluctantly recommended its members vote in support of a framework agreement that will limit the amount of contracting out in B.C. care facilities to about 25 per cent of the current workforce.
Allnutt said the recommendation in favour of the agreement and the lack of support for contracting out are not contradictory.
"Not at all," he said. "What is consistent is that privatization and contracting out is bad for patients. What we've agreed to is the limit. But there's still an obligation on our part to stress the damage this will do to the health-care system."
Allnutt said voting on the framework agreement is taking place this week, and the results will be announced on May 15. In addition, the union is still pursuing its lawsuit to have Bill 29 declared unconstitutional.