Discussion on Significance of Attacks on Health Care WorkersLively discussion is taking place on the action taken by Alberta hospital workers on October 26. Many people are pointing out that privatization steals needed resources from public services and from the workers who deliver these services. This money is not "saved" but goes into the coffers of the rich, particularly to big global corporations whose profits are guaranteed by lucrative contracts with subservient governments. Parkland
Institute
"Past experience from British Columbia, Ontario and the United Kingdom shows that when these positions are outsourced, workers are often laid off, only to be re-hired at lower compensation, reduced benefits, precarious hours, and increased duties. Corners are cut to save time and money, increasing the risk of error, injury and -- in the case of housekeeping and laundry -- the likelihood of infection," the institute stated. "Private sector contracts, while awarded to the lowest bidder, are based on profit margins: cutting wages, benefits and staffing numbers while receiving public tax dollars for lower quality service. Workers are caught in the middle, desperately trying to maintain the standards of care with fewer resources and outdated equipment. "This 'transformational change' to Alberta's health care system will not benefit Albertans. It will enact a transfer of wealth from health care workers to private corporations and leave Albertans more at risk during the health crisis of the century," the statement concluded.
In the Canadian Law of Work Forum, Bob
Barnetson and Jason Foster of Athabasca University wrote, "Asserting
that unions should 'respect the bargaining process' is difficult to
reconcile with the UCP government repeatedly interfering with
public-sector bargaining and bargaining rights in the past 18 months.
They unilaterally postponed
arbitration deadlines that were enshrined in collective agreements.
They gave themselves the right to impose binding and secret bargaining
mandates on public-sector agencies. They tore up a legally negotiated
deal with Alberta's doctors, imposing a legislated contract. They have
passed bills constraining workers' rights to picket. Their recently
passed Bill 32 imposes a series of restrictions on union activity,
including limits on the right to strike. Apparently, the government
expects unions to abide by the law, no matter how unfair, while at the
same time affords itself the right to change rules that are
inconvenient for the government." (Photos: Workers' Forum.)
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Speaking of the 11,000 workers
who the Kenney government plans to lay off, the Parkland Institute
pointed out that 83 per cent of workers in health care are women, many
of whom are from minority communities and are recent immigrants, and
now the UCP government is doubling and tripling down
on women who are already disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
In response to
the claim by Jason Kenney that rural laundry services would be
privatized because it was "too costly" to buy new equipment, a former
Alberta cabinet minister tweeted, "A privatized laundry company will
capitalize the machinery and charge it back to the government, plus a
30 per cent profit. Workers get far less, taxpayers pay
more."