Food services staff at Sechelt Hospital, Shorncliffe Care Centre, Totem Lodge and other Vancouver Coastal Health facilities have given their union a strike mandate in negotiations with the private contractor Sodexo.
The Hospital Employees Union (HEU) is also negotiating with Compass group, Aramark and Acciona. The strike vote involved workers in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and southern Vancouver Island employed by all four companies, but did not include the Sunshine Coast workers with Compass group. HEU is negotiating its first contract for that bargaining unit with Compass, after Compass took over cleaning services from Aramark in a controversial “contract flip” in March 2015.
Compass faced criticism locally, and New Democrat MLA Nicholas Simons, who was re-elected May 9, raised the issue of how workers were treated when the new company took over and did not offer jobs to all of the Aramark employees.
Officials with HEU said this week that providing job security when health authorities change contractors is one of the key issues in the negotiations, along with wages.
Ninety-six per cent of the roughly 4,000 HEU members taking part in the two weeks of voting were in favour of strike action.
HEU secretary-business manager Jennifer Whiteside said in a release announcing the result that she’s hopeful the strong strike mandate will help bring about an agreement. “We believe that a fair and reasonable agreement is within reach if employers get serious about addressing low wages and a total lack of job security that creates uncertainty for workers when health authorities change contractors.”
The vote puts the HEU in a position to take job action if talks break down.
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