A laundry facility in Delta that was once cited as an "outstanding example of health care infrastructure" will be sold and the services it has been providing for Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals outsourced, the Tyee has learned. The sale, slated to be finalized in early 2011, will mean the loss of up to 80 unionized jobs, perhaps as early as next summer, according to the Hospital Employees Union, which represents the staff at the Tilbury Laundry.

"Tilbury remains an efficient, highly productive facility with long-serving workers," said HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy in a September 17 newsletter. "Selling off a sound, public asset and contracting out the work doesn't make sense in uncertain economic times when stable, family-supporting jobs are necessary to the province's financial recovery."

On September 15, health authority representatives met with Tilbury workers to outline plans to sell the building and equipment and issue lay off notices sometime around Christmas this year. "We have decided we should get out of the laundry business and focus on what we do best, delivering healthcare to patients and clients," said Coastal Health Authority media spokesman Gavin Wilson in a phone message to the Tyee on September 17.

Wilson said that the proposed sale was in the works because the alternative, outsourcing the work currently done at Tilbury to private sector contractors, would be "cheaper year over year operationally." The province, after paying out legally required severance to laid off workers, would realize a $2.5 million dollar net gain by selling the building and equipment, he said.

"This is not a huge amount, but we will also avoid substantial capital costs that would be incurred in the future, when the Tilbury building would require costly upgrades," he added.

Under the Bill 29 settlement imposed on the province in a Supreme Court defeat in 2007, the health authority is required to consult for 90 days now to see whether the HEU and its Tilbury members can suggest options other than contracting out their work. Absent an agreement on such alternatives, the workers will be served with 8 month notice of lay off sometime around Christmas.

According to the health authority’s Wilson, the laid off Tilbury workers will be eligible to either "bump" other union members with less seniority from their jobs at other HEU represented work sites within the Vancouver Coastal Health system, or to apply for work with the new private sector contractor who will be doing their work.

The announcement of prospective job losses at Tibury occurs as the HEU is making gains and facing challenges elsewhere. Over the summer, the HEU, which represents more than 43,000 members across BC, organized more than 400 new members in Kamloops, Penticton and in various hospitals within the Fraser Health Authority. The union is currently embroiled in a bitter conflict with the BC Nurses Union, which has launched a highly controversial raid on licensed practical nurses represented by HEU.

Tom Sandborn is a Tyee contributing editor focusing on health policy and labour. He welcomes feedback and story tips at [email protected].