By Staff Saturday, May 19, 2007 http://vernon.ok.bc.ca/stories.php?id=44766
Hospital workers plan to rally against public-private partnerships in Vernon this week. The Hospital Employees Union has organized the demonstration to coincide with a meeting of Interior Health‘s board of directors on Wednesday. Members are upset the health authority plans to allow housekeeping and plant services at hospitals in Kelowna and Vernon to be contracted out. “Interior Health has the best record for housekeeping in the auditor general‘s report on cleanliness and infection control. Health authorities that scored the worst had contracted out housekeeping services,” said Katherine Kreller, the HEU‘s Okanagan director. “I hope IH pays attention to that.” The province‘s Health Ministry has agreed to spend $200 million on major additions to Kelowna General and Vernon Jubilee hospitals. The bidding process allows the consortium that wins the bid to contract out all non-clinical services in both hospitals. More than 300 unionized workers – 90 of them in Vernon – face layoffs.
The HEU is on the agenda for Wednesday‘s board meeting. Marcy Cohen, the union‘s director of research, a housekeeper and a tradesman are scheduled to give board members their perspectives on the issue. Organizers hope more than 50 union members from Kelowna and Vernon join the rally. They plan to march with signs from Polson Park, past MLA Tom Cristensen‘s office to the IH board meeting in the Schubert Centre on 30th Avenue. “We‘ll stand outside and wait until the presentation to the board is made. Then we‘ll go back to Polson Park,” said Kreller. Murray Ramsden, CEO of Interior Health, has said it‘s too early to say whether housekeeping and plant services will be contracted out at the hospitals. He said officials will evaluate all proposals by keeping high standards in mind.
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Wednesday’s board meeting will be held at the Schubert Centre at 8 a.m.
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