About 140 janitorial staff who work as cleaners at Lions Gate Hospital and five other care facilities for seniors on the North Shore have been handed layoff notices.
Cleaning staff who work for Aramark, the company which provides contracted janitorial service at the centres, were told Monday their jobs will officially end and they will have to reapply for positions by September at the latest.
The layoffs are being prompted because Vancouver Coastal Health is opting to contract with a different company, Compass Group Canada, for the cleaning services.
Aramark has held the cleaning contract for Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals and extended care facilities since 2004.
According to the Hospital Employees’ Union, the change means about 935 cleaning staff will be laid off across the Vancouver Coastal Health region between Aug. 9 and Sept. 22 as a result of the change.
Union spokesman Mike Old criticized the move, calling it “contract flipping” on the part of the health authority to save money on workers’ benefits. “Money and cost are usually always the reason for changing these contracts,” said Old. Old said most cleaners at Lions Gate Hospital and local care homes earn about $15.50 an hour — up from the $10 per hour range they earned when services were first contracted out.
Old said he doesn’t expect wages to change under Compass. But workers with over a decade of seniority with Aramark will see accumulated benefits like vacation time set back to a starting level if and when they are rehired under a new contractor, he said.
Gavin Wilson, spokesman for Vancouver Coastal Health, said cost wasn’t the determining factor in changing the contract. Wilson said the health authority is confident the new contractor will provide improved services. Wilson added Compass has committed to rehiring as many Aramark employees as possible.
Word of that contract change comes as 230 care aides at Inglewood Care Home in West Vancouver working for a contracted staffing provider face layoffs in May over a similar contract change.