Red Deer Regional Hospital (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Sheldon Spackman

59 Workers In Linen Department

AUPE claims Red Deer Hospital workers being axed while COVID-19 pandemic still rages

Nov 26, 2021 | 4:33 PM

Officials with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) say dozens of front-line health-care workers will lose their jobs in Red Deer today (Friday, Nov. 26), as the UCP government and Alberta Health Services (AHS) push ahead with what the union describes as a dangerous province-wide plan to hand over hospital operations to private industry.

“This loss of laundry services is part of the government plan to throw 11,000 front-line heroes out of work while we’re still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Kevin Barry, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), which represents about 95,000 workers.

“Today, Red Deer Regional Hospital is losing 59 workers in the linen department. About a dozen of them have found work within AHS, but the rest will be gone today,” says Barry, who is chair of AUPE’s anti-privatization committee.

Union officials say the Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury in Ponoka saw 24 full-time and five casual laundry workers cut earlier this month. In total, about 400 laundry workers in 54 communities, mainly in rural areas, are said to see their jobs disappear in communities including Athabasca, Barrhead, Canmore, Claresholm, Cold Lake, Devon, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, High River and Strathmore. Larger centres including Lethbridge and Medicine Hat will also be impacted.

“This is the way this government thanks hard-working Albertans who have been there for us throughout this pandemic. They have performed their duties at great risk to themselves, while the government had bungled its pandemic response at almost every stage,” says Barry.

BEEWISE PROTOTYPE SHOWCASE

Lacombe high school students cause a buzz at Calgary AZTech Awards

5h ago

COMMUNITY BUILDERS

Three central Albertans recipients of Alberta Immigrant Impact Awards

Oct 05, 2024

town calls suit 'frivolous and vexatious

Sylvan Lake council member suing municipality, mayor and CAO for $317,000

Oct 05, 2024

“This handing over of jobs and public assets will end up costing more and providing lower-quality service – because that’s always the result of privatizations,” he says. “It’s one more example of how this government has messed up during the pandemic.”

“It is also a huge blow to communities, many of them rural, who are already suffering thanks to years of economic turmoil. Good jobs are hard to find and yet this government is killing them rather than creating them. Just one more broken promise, one more failure.”

Other areas bracing for cuts, according to the union, include nutrition and food services; environmental services; lab services, supply chain and procurement; and long-term care.

In a statement provided to rdnewsNOW, Steve Buick, Press Secretary, Alberta Health, says the government promised there would be no reductions in front-line patient care staff in the pandemic, and they are honouring that promise.

“We value all our health care workers but the fact is, our independent laundry services provider has done nearly 70% of our hospital laundry services for years, including under the NDP, and we’re simply contracting more services from the same provider.

“The contracting model for laundry services is a proven success. It delivers the same quality services at lower cost, and every dollar we save is reinvested into the health system to provide more surgeries, tests, and other services.

“AHS estimates that maintaining the existing in-house services would require more than $38 million in upgrades, or more than $100 million in public capital to build new modern linen systems.”

Background information offered by Buick, includes:

• The laundry contracting initiative is based on recommendations in the AHS Review, to make the health system more cost-effective while increasing care, and finding savings to re-invest in the system.
• There is no reduction in the health budget, in fact it’s $3 billion higher than under the previous government.
• The transition in laundry services has been underway since September, and AHS is working with employees and their union to keep them informed.