Employees get layoff notices

By Dan Hilborn
Published July 5, 2006


Unionized workers at the Normanna rest home in Burnaby are in shock this week after the U.K.-based Compass Group Canada rejected a B.C. Labour Relations Board-imposed settlement that would have given them up to a 24 per cent pay raise over the next two years.

"This was a pretty awful Canada Day gift for these folks," said Judy Darcy, secretary-business manager of the Hospital Employees' Union. "Compass is the largest catering company in the world, and a collective agreement that will give these 25 workers comparable wages with others in the industry surely isn't a make-or-break financial situation for this global corporation."

Last week, the Burnaby NOW reported that B.C. Labour Relations Board arbitrator Brian Foley had imposed a new collective agreement on the company after more than a year of bargaining. At the time, Brenda Brown, the vice president of human resources for Compass, said the company was reviewing their options and had no comment on the imposed settlement.

The layoffs are now scheduled to take effect on Aug. 31. Affected staff were meeting with Normanna administrators to discuss the matter on Tuesday morning, and Darcy said the HEU was hoping to schedule its own meeting with the workers to discuss their next move as soon as possible.

Margaret Douglas-Matthews, the executive director of 100-bed care home, said Normanna is now seeking a new contractor to take over the contract.

"Compass came to us and asked us to pay the lion's share of the settlement," Douglas-Matthews said. "With our current financial restraints we're not able to assume this additional financial burden."

Burnaby city councillor Gary Begin, who is the chairman of the board at St. Michael's Care Home, also in Burnaby, said it may now fall to the Fraser Health Authority to step in and try to settle the two-year-old labour dispute.

"If they can't seem to operate the place in a peaceful manner, I think for the sake of the residents, Fraser Health would want to step in and make sure there is labour peace," Begin said. "We non- profits get our funding from them, so they have a vested interest in what goes on."

Darcy agreed that the local health authority should look into the matter. "I do think the Fraser health Authority should be concerned," she said. "This can only lead to more instability in providing care."

Darcy noted that the situation at Normanna does not bode well for 1,000 other HEU employees who are currently negotiating with the Compass Group for new contracts in the Vancouver Island and provincial health authorities.

"What's really going on here, we don't know," Darcy said. "We're trying to see if there are any legal or other options under the Labour Relations Act."

Douglas-Matthews also noted that Normanna has still not received its 2006/07 operating budget from the Fraser Health Authority, which was supposed to take effect on April 1.

Regardless of who take over the contract, Douglas-Matthews said she hopes that the current employees keep their jobs. "I'm very pleased with the quality of work, the attitude of staff and their team work," she said.