About 350 AHS jobs to be affected by outsourcing of linen and laundry services
Ashley Joannou
© Provided by Edmonton Journal The Alberta Health Services logo.
Alberta Health Services is outsourcing the last of its in-house laundry jobs, impacting 334 employees.
In a statement Monday, AHS said the remaining linen and laundry services will transition to K-Bro Linen Systems starting in September.
K-Bro already handles more than two-thirds of AHS’s linen services including in Calgary, Edmonton, Hinton and Edson.
The company will begin taking over the rural Calgary zone followed by the south, central and north zones. AHS estimates it will take 34 weeks for K-Bro to completely take over providing linen services throughout the province by April 2022.
“If AHS were to try to maintain the existing in-house services, more than $38 million in upgrades would be required to ensure both safety and quality of services. Alternatively, AHS would need to invest more than $100 million to build new modern linen systems across the province,” the statement says.
The outsourcing will impact approximately 334 full-time, part-time and casual employees, the health authority said.
“AHS is committed to working with them and their union throughout this process to explore potential options in accordance with the collective agreement,” according to the statement.
Kevin Barry, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), said the move to outsource the remaining jobs is going to hurt rural Alberta. He expects K-Bro to centralize operations in larger cities and not keep the rural positions that exist now.
“(Government officials) talk about a strategy to help small businesses recover from the pandemic and this is certainly not a way to do it — to cut jobs from the rural communities who are going to need these people to shop in their communities to help support small business,” he said.
K-Bro Linen Systems did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Barry said it is risky to be trucking in linen to communities if there is ever bad weather that might impact road conditions.
Last year the government said it would be cutting 11,000 Alberta Health Services jobs mostly by outsourcing positions in laboratories, housekeeping, food services and laundry. The change is estimated to save $600 million annually.
A review conducted by Ernst & Young in 2020 found that outsourcing seven different services including linen, housekeeping and food would save the government between $100 million and $146 million annually.
The news of the upcoming cuts led to a one-day wildcat strike last year by some AHS employees in an effort to get the government to change its mind.
Alberta Health Services is outsourcing the last of its in-house laundry jobs, impacting 334 employees.
In a statement Monday, AHS said the remaining linen and laundry services will transition to K-Bro Linen Systems starting in September.
K-Bro already handles more than two-thirds of AHS’s linen services including in Calgary, Edmonton, Hinton and Edson.
The company will begin taking over the rural Calgary zone followed by the south, central and north zones. AHS estimates it will take 34 weeks for K-Bro to completely take over providing linen services throughout the province by April 2022.
“If AHS were to try to maintain the existing in-house services, more than $38 million in upgrades would be required to ensure both safety and quality of services. Alternatively, AHS would need to invest more than $100 million to build new modern linen systems across the province,” the statement says.
The outsourcing will impact approximately 334 full-time, part-time and casual employees, the health authority said.
“AHS is committed to working with them and their union throughout this process to explore potential options in accordance with the collective agreement,” according to the statement.
Kevin Barry, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), said the move to outsource the remaining jobs is going to hurt rural Alberta. He expects K-Bro to centralize operations in larger cities and not keep the rural positions that exist now.
“(Government officials) talk about a strategy to help small businesses recover from the pandemic and this is certainly not a way to do it — to cut jobs from the rural communities who are going to need these people to shop in their communities to help support small business,” he said.
K-Bro Linen Systems did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Barry said it is risky to be trucking in linen to communities if there is ever bad weather that might impact road conditions.
Last year the government said it would be cutting 11,000 Alberta Health Services jobs mostly by outsourcing positions in laboratories, housekeeping, food services and laundry. The change is estimated to save $600 million annually.
A review conducted by Ernst & Young in 2020 found that outsourcing seven different services including linen, housekeeping and food would save the government between $100 million and $146 million annually.
The news of the upcoming cuts led to a one-day wildcat strike last year by some AHS employees in an effort to get the government to change its mind.
FOR BACKGROUND ON K-BRO, AND THE WILCAT STRIKE AGAINST KLEIN IN 1995 SEE
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