A total of 85 local jobs are among the 935 or so being lost due to a round of layoffs across a number of Lower Mainland long-term care facilities.
According to the Hospital Employees’ Union, cleaning staff are affected at three Richmond locations: Richmond Hospital, Minoru Seniors Centre and Lions Manor.
Aramark — the U.S.-corporation that has held a commercial contract to clean Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals and extended care facilities since 2003 — has lost its contract and will lay off staff between Aug. 9 and Sept. 22, said Mike Old, communications director with HEU.
The layoffs point to the need for improved successorship language in contracts to protect workers in a health care system that has seen significant privatization over the last decade, said Bonnie Pearson, the HEU’s secretary-business manager.
