The Hospital Employees Union suggests big capital upgrades for Interior Health laundry service and jobs should go hand-in-hand.
Secretary-Business Manager Bonnie Pearson is speaking to the hundred job losses – 17 of them in Nelson alone- that could happen if IH does indeed contract out laundry service.
Millions of dollars are needed to upgrade ageing machines when IH says that money could be better spent on health equipment.
But Pearson says the health authority is being pressured by the government to privatize the service as they’ve done elsewhere in BC and you won’t get a more efficient laundry set up than the publicly funded one in Nelson.
IH is now taking requests for solutions from the private sector.