March 17 will be the last day Sudbury Hospital Services will deliver laundry to Health Sciences North.
After that, HSN will enter into a contract with Hamilton-based Mohawk Hospital Linen Services to clean its laundry. As a result, 38 people employed with Sudbury Hospital Services — some who have been with the company more than 25 years — will lose their jobs. The date was moved up from April 1.
“Time is ticking,” said Sharon Richer, secretary/treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees' Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, at a Feb. 17 press conference.
“Our workers are edgy. Many still can't believe this is actually happening. It's hard for us to swallow. We've been loyal to HSN, we've given them a very good product, and we just can't fathom that shipping this service to Hamilton is the right choice.”
Since the decision was made late last year, much has been done to try to sway the minds of those who make those decisions.
Six rallies have been held in support of those staff members, the most recent on Feb. 1. Union members met with HSN's board in December, where they were told the hospital budget would be cut by $500,000 if they did not agree to move the services to Mohawk Hospital Linen Services in Hamilton, Ont.
“And the board refused to give any special consideration to employ staff laid off at the laundry as a result of this decision, and that they would be treated as any other member of the public when applying for a job at HSN,” said Gisele Dawson, president, CUPE Local 2841.
Greater Sudbury city council has also directed staff to conduct an impact statement of the hospital shipping its laundry services on a 900-km round trip to Hamilton, and it's expected to be presented at the Feb. 21 council meeting, she said.
Furthermore, union members have had two meetings with Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault to date.
“I regret to inform that he has not followed up on any of his commitments made in these private meetings,” Richer said.
In those meetings, she said Thibeault committed to setting up a meeting with Labour Minister Kevin Flynn, as well as with the board at HSN, in which he was to attend.
“He has done nothing to advocate for these employees,” Dawson said.
The press conference was held to release statistics of a poll conducted by Toronto-based Public Polling in November of 2016.
A total of 1,803 people responded to the poll, which asked 14 questions including direct questions about the obligations of large employers and the MPP, as well as whether respondents support the decision from HSN to wash itself of the local contract in favour of a contract with the Hamilton-based company.
“We wanted to talk to the citizens of Sudbury to find out if this is important to them, and clearly it is,” Richer said. “We had a sense that the community would be upset at the loss of these jobs. It's important to them that the laundry jobs stay here, and that Mr. Thibeault stands up for these jobs.”
The results of this poll put HSN and Thibeault on side with 1.09 per cent of the people of Sudbury who are in favour of moving laundry services to Hamilton, said Nicole Mallette, vice-president, CUPE Local 2841.
“When we talked to the polling company, they told us this was an incredible rate, because usually when people receive these robocalls, they hang up the phone,” said Richer. “We were told the Sudbury community is clearly engaged with this issue.”
As the questions went on, participation did decline; however, even with the 14th and final question, more than 1,200 people still responded, said Richer.
The laundry workers aren't done fighting, either.
“We will continue right to the bitter end,” Richer said.
Mallette said the union is asking the province to make it clear that HSN would not lose $500,000 from their budget if they were to keep the contract locally. They are also asking the provincial government to invest $500,000 to upgrade aging equipment at the laundry.
“And we want Mr. Thibeault to make this happen before March 17,” she said.
