More than two dozen workers within the healthcare system on the Sunshine Coast have been officially made public employees as part of a massive “repatriation” effort by the province to bring commercially-contracted employees into the public system.
On the Sunshine Coast, 27 housekeeping and food service workers at Sechelt Hospital and Totem Lodge and six workers at Shorncliffe Intermediate Care Home have been brought back into the public system, according to an Oct. 28 release.
“I am so pleased that these workers will now benefit from well-paying, secure jobs and that Bill 47 made this possible,” said Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons in the announcement. “Every health-service worker that returns to the public system is essential in building a stronger health-care system and stronger communities.”
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) said 864 housekeeping and food service workers have been “repatriated” as public sector employees across 31 VCH sites.
The change, authorized through Bill 47 or the Health Sector Statutes Repeal Act, effectively reverses Bills 29 and 94, introduced by the Liberal Government in 2002 and 2003 respectively, that privatized the work, resulting in 10,000 health-care workers being laid off and rehired for less pay. Bill 47 came into effect in 2019.
In 2021, the province said it would conduct a phased approach to cancelling 21 housekeeping and food service commercial contracts in four health authorities and Providence Health, and expected to complete the transition by March 2022.
The workers were moved over gradually as contracts expired, and VCH said no contracts would be broken.
The Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) said this was the last group to transition back to the public sector as part of the 2021 announcement.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said in the Friday release that transitioning workers back to the public health system will ensure they received “better wages, better benefits and better working conditions.”
The union said it was “celebrating” the transfer. “The privatization policies of the previous B.C. Liberal government devastated the lives of thousands of workers in a sector that was overwhelmingly female and highly racialized,” said HEU secretary-business manager Meena Brisard in the release.
The now public workers will be covered by a three-year facilities collective agreement ratified by HEU earlier this month. “Workers will see immediate improvements to their wages and benefits” under the agreement, according to the HEU.
- With files from Keili Bartlett
