Alberta Health Services will eliminate 11,000 jobs affecting 9,700 employees across the province. In Medicine Hat, laboratory and laundry services are some of the first to be contracted to private companies with AHS issuing requests for proposals before the end of the year.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
Alberta Health Services will eliminate 11,000 jobs affecting 9,700 people by contracting out certain services to the private sector, Alberta Health announced Tuesday.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro says 400 of those affected will be laundry workers.
These include laundry workers at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and there will also be others affected at local AHS lab services. A request for proposals for contracting out laundry and lab services will be issued this year.
Shandro’s press secretary Steve Buick confirmed the plan is to have private contractors handle lab services across the province including Medicine Hat.
In 2014 an initiative to cancel contracted lab services in Medicine Hat was launched by the previous conservative government to save money and then finalized by the NDP. In 2017 AHS opened its own lab on Carry Drive.
AHS will also contract out housekeeping services in 2022 and food services in 2023, said Shandro.
“Contracting out these services allows AHS to get the best value from private partners and focus on patient care and meeting community health care needs,” Shandro claims.
He has directed that a minimum of 100 AHS management positions be eliminated with a review to be completed this fiscal year.
“Government’s direction is that there will be no job losses for nurses or frontline clinical staff,” said Shandro. “Any reductions must be managed through vacant positions and existing initiatives like operational best practices.”
The initiatives, only a portion of what was previously identified, have been modified due to the pandemic. The government is suggesting this will save $600 million annually, said Shandro.
There will also be an expansion of chartered surgical facilities with AHS issuing an RFP this fall, said Shandro.
The cost of labour is 70 per cent of the AHS budget and savings can’t be achieved “without changes to its workforce,” said Shandro.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Guy Smith says it is a threat to health care.
“Now that we know exactly what the damage is, we can keep prepping ourselves for the biggest fight of our lives,” says Smith. “Our AHS members are already fighting for strong contract language to stop the sell-off of housekeeping, food services and laundry jobs. We plan on winning this protection, but if we do not, strike action is on the table.”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation however, applauds the government’s decision to eliminate positions through attrition and reductions in management.
“Today’s announcement is an excellent step to make Alberta;s health-care system more efficient,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Alberta director. “Alberta’s businesses do a great job of doing laundry and preparing meals, so this is a no-brainer to help relieve some of the mounting costs to taxpayers.”
Gil McGowan, president of Alberta Federation of Labour, called it “blind ideology” during a pandemic.
“Lab services have been incredibly important in the fight against COVID-19 in Alberta,” said McGowan. “It makes absolutely no sense to outsource 2,000 jobs from lab services during a global pandemic and claim it will have no impact on Albertans’ health care.”
Sandra Azocar, executive director for Friends of Medicare, says the UCP government is “callously advancing plans to suit their aggressive privatization agenda in health care.”
Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of AHS, says the care and well-being of Albertans will be the first priority.
“We remain fully committed to continuing to improve the financial sustainability of the organization, and will implement some of the review recommendations in a strategic and paced approach that ensures frontline health-care workers and Albertans are supported throughout the pandemic.”
But Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Premier Jason Kenney is intent on bringing American-style health care to Alberta.
“These plans are cruel. They are irresponsible and they are stupid,” Notley said at a news conference. “They will create nothing but chaos throughout health-care institutions across this province.”
Notley said people who do housekeeping, prepare food and provide laboratory services are front-line workers in every way, and forcing them out to seek lower paying jobs in the private sector is unconscionable.
“It is a turning point in Alberta history,” she said.
“I think that all Albertans are going to be very, very upset because this is the exact opposite from what Jason Kenney committed to Albertans when he asked them for their vote.”
An official with the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) said Shandro’s promise that the layoffs won’t affect front-line workers does not seem sincere.
“There is nothing to prevent this government from prematurely declaring the pandemic to be over whenever it pleases, so this is a relatively meaningless promise,” said David Harrigan, labour relations director for the UNA.
“Stability in the midst of a pandemic won’t be achieved by short staffed hospitals and burnt out health care workers.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
