The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) are worried laundry services at rural hospitals are about to be privatized.

Union Vice President, Susan Slade, says if the changes come to pass, 275 workers in 54 communities, including High River, Okotoks, Claresholm, and Black Diamond, could lose their jobs.

She says those hospitals could end up seeing their laundry trucked in as opposed to being done on site.

"You know, a busy long weekend or a couple of busy days and you're laundry services isn't delivering for the next few days, you have the potential of even running out of laundry. So then what?"

One of the main reason's cited for privatization is to save money, but does it?

Slade, says privatized laundry service is already a reality in Calgary hospitals, and it's costing more.

"It's being trucked down from Edmonton. There's one big central area and they truck it down. So saying it's a cost saving really makes absolutely no sense in that, when you could have had it done in house, but really if you ran out you could run down the stairs and get more. Whereas now you have to wait for the trucks to come."

In a release, Slade says the AUPE received written notice Monday, February 10, from Alberta Health Services (AHS) of its “contracting out initiative” of all hospital laundry services outside Calgary and Edmonton.

An “anticipated timeframe” included sending out a Request for Proposals (RFP) in May and the awarding of a contract for November 2020.

 

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