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It was also looking for a private clinic to provide up to 4,000 colonoscopies on the south Island and up to 3,000 in the central Island each year over the same period, to a maximum of 35,000. The preferred lease site for the Victoria clinic is believed to be the five-storey professional office building in the new $100-million Eagle Creek Village.

It is also exploring ways to allow stays of up to three days as part of a long-term strategy to manage wait-lists in the province. Overnight stays would require changes to the Hospital Act. Peters said overnight stays won't be part of this contract. "There is a desire provincially to look at that as a future stage, but that is not part of this initial contract with the preferred proponent." Island Health began awarding contracts for day surgeries to private clinics in 2004.

"That does narrow it down to a few locations," he said. The proponent has confirmed the site would be ready to meet Island Health's timelines, Peters said. The B.C. Health Ministry, as outlined in a document called Future Directions for Surgical Services in B.C., is moving toward shifting appropriate publicly funded day surgeries to private clinics.

The site, at Helmcken Road and Watkiss Way near Victoria General Hospital in View Royal, is being developed by Vancouverbased Omicron. Jessica Ng, Omicron's development manager, confirmed it's in negotiations with the Surgical Centres to lease out 15,000 square feet on the third floor of the professional office space. "Hopefully, they choose us as a preferred location," Ng said. The preferred site must meet the requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. and be near a hospital for the convenience of patients, staff and doctors, Peters said.

The NDP has said Island Health's call for contracts is an entrenchment of stop-gap measures where use of private clinics to reduce wait times drains funding, doctors and nurses from the public to the private system. "It's a worrisome trend," NDP critic Judy Darcy said when the plan to contract out was announced. She called the contract a short-term fix and just the tip of the iceberg in the move toward long-term privatization.

Peters said contracting out day procedures to private clinics saves Island Health millions in capital costs, reduces wait times for day surgeries, and opens up hospital operating room time for more complex surgeries. "This is not the privatization of health-care services," Peters said. "This is a benefit overall to not only those people waiting for surgery but it's a cost-effective way of delivering health care so we can invest in other areas." Of 541,885 publicly funded surgeries in B.C. in 2013-14, 5,503 were done in private facilities. ceharnett@timescolonist.com

However, according to Jain, it was SteriPro who initiated the proceedings to bring the contract to a close. "It was SteriPro that took Trillium to task," says Jain. "We filed a change inquiry notice, and according to our agreement, the next step would have been arbitration, and we would have won a very, very large compensation from Trillium if we had gone to arbitration." Rather than going through arbitration, SteriPro opted to begin negotiations to terminate the contract. "We got compensated a significant amount of money by Trillium to enter into this termination agreement. So, it's not that they terminated the contract. We terminated it."

Jain explains that rather than being dissatisfied with SteriPro's service, the hospital instead had carried on along a trajectory of increasing demand for those services, but neglected to honour the contract elements that mandated further talks about increasing compensation along the same lines. "There were some issue in the contract that enabled us to increase our compensation with increased volume," says Jain. "When a hospital's surgical case volume goes up by 70 per cent, you would expect that our compensation would increase by 70 per cent, but it went up by zero per cent over the last four years, and that's because Trillium did not engage in the discussions that were dictated in the agreement to enable us to increase our compensation for the extra work and the extra labour force that we needed to employ the work that needed to be done."

For Jain, the notion that it was the hospital who terminated the SteriPro contract is factually incorrect, but the added idea that that decision would have been made because of lapses in quality runs counter to the high mark that he sets for his company, and which is attested by the level of accreditation they've received.

"We are the first private facility accredited by Accreditation Canada, which looks at all your work. We've been accredited strictly for reprocessing, Which is a very stringent and highly controlled and monitored service that meets all the standards set by the CSA." With regards to the company's contract with Pembroke Regional Hospital, two main concerns were raised by CUPE representatives during their March media event: that prolonged turnaround time on instruments needing cleaning could lead to shortages at critical times, and that the 400-plus kilometre one-way trip to Pembroke from the SteriPro facility could result in compromises to the sterilization of the equipment. On the topic of instrument inventory, Jain points out that the issue was raised during the preliminary portion of contract talks with the hospital, and to mitigate that concern, SteriPro agreed to cover the cost of an augmentation to the hospital's existing inventory with brand new equipment so that they would always be sufficiently well-stocked to deal with routine and unforeseen situations.

When it comes to the notion that distance presents an insurmountable hurdle to assuring the sterilization of treated instruments, Jain points to his company's provision of service to a trauma centre in Newfoundland, and their various other contracts, as his main response. "If we can service a major trauma centre on the East Coast, we can service anyone from coast to coast. We consider ourselves the experts in sterile transport, because we have developed the methodologies and the techniques, and we've tested them out, to ensure that instruments can be transported safely by road or by air. We currently transport instruments to major hospitals throughout the GTA, and we transport them safely."

In addition, Jain says that SteriPro has a number of detailed tracking and data systems to ensure that every step in the process is wellsupervised and documented. "We have temperature and humidity-controlled and monitored trucks, which have GPS monitoring on them as well. If there was a particular case that had an infection, we can pull out all the records on that particular tray of instruments and provide the data to show when it was sterilized, by whom, and under what conditions that sterilized set was kept. So the chain of sterility from the time that it comes out of the sterilizer to the time when it goes on the shelf in the storage room in Pembroke is completely documented, and we are practically the only ones in Canada who can do that, and we maintain all that data in our database forever. If there was a case that was done 10 years ago where, say, an orthopaedic implant which became infected 10 years ago, we can provide the hospital all the records they need to prove that sterility was not the issue." Over the past few months, SteriPro officials have been working to get the necessary underpinnings of their service to PRH in place, and they are expecting to be fully operational for surgical equipment reprocessing by the end of April. rpaulsen@postmedia.com Twitter.com/PRyanPaulsen

Norm Peters, Island Health's executive director for surgical services, estimates it will take six to eight weeks to evaluate the proposals, choose one or more preferred proponents and hammer out agreements. "We're just in the start of the review stage," Peters said.

Depending on what's proposed, Island Health could be awarding one contract to a single company or two contracts to different companies on the south and central Island. B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said the use of private clinics for publicly funded day procedures is strengthening the public system by increasing the number of more complex surgeries that can be carried out in hospitals.

Of 541,885 publicly funded surgeries in B.C. in 2013-14, 5,503 were done in private facilities. In 2013-14, Island Health funded 160 day surgical procedures to be performed in private clinics. That was less than the previous year when Island Health contracted out 511 publicly funded procedures for adults to private clinics and 31 for children for a total of 542.

Interior Health contracted out the most publicly funded day surgeries in 2013-14 to private facilities - 2,053 adult procedures and 173 pediatric procedures for a total of 2,226. If Island Health goes on to fund a maximum of 10,000 procedures annually over the next five years through private clinics, the health authority will lead the province in doing so.

Peters said with more day surgeries, such as varicose vein procedures, being performed by private clinics, more capacity is created in hospitals to perform hip and knee procedures, which also have long wait-lists. Edition: Final

In response to the 2011 C. difficile outbreak in the Niagara Health System, Mehra said they are "trying to find out the details of the cleaning contracts and whether the private companies were allowed to dramatically reduce the number of cleaners. "These are things that intrinsically affect patient care."

VIHA says the new contract with Crothall raises cleaning standards, increases staffing levels, creates a specialist outbreak cleaning team, enhances monitoring processes and introduces more patient and staff satisfaction surveys.

Mike Old, spokesman for the Hospital Employees' Union, said the union supports the decision of the health authority to retain the experienced workers who currently clean the facilities."Our concerns about crushing workloads for cleaning staff have been recognized through a commitment to higher staffing levels in this contract," Old said.

Improper cleaning methods and insufficient cleaner strength had a significant effect in an 11-month C-Difficile outbreak at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital that infected 94 people and killed five which started in 2008.

Compass employees lacked proper training to use toxic chemicals that caused hair loss, nose inflammation, respiratory problems and skin irritation, according to two failed WorkSafe B.C. inspections issued in 2008 and 2009.

Workers used ineffective cleaners. Staff over-diluted bleach cleaner and later needed to switch to a soil-lifting detergent that would remove the virus from surfaces.

If the housekeeping fails on any of the new measures during monitoring, financial penalties will be applied.

In April last year, VIHA said it was getting rid of Compass and signing a new contract with Marquise to provide housekeeping and food services at residential care facilities on the south Island - Glengarry, Mount Tolmie, Aberdeen, Gorge Road and Priory Hospital - as well as Queen Alexandra Centre for Children's Health and Saanich Peninsula Hospital. But before the ink on the contract was dry, Marquise was bought by Compass.

Compass has three of its divisions working in VIHA's contracted sites: Crothall Services, providing housekeeping services; Morrison, providing food services; and Marquise Group, providing both food and housekeeping services in residential care facilities.

What governments save in salaries and benefits often “ends up on the government books through all sorts of programs,” said Paul C. Light, a professor at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University

Governors or legislatures in Arizona, Louisiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have all proposed reviews of state agencies in search of opportunities to privatize operations.

In Michigan, the plan to replace state nursing assistants at the veterans home resulted in a lawsuit contending that some temporary workers employed by the contract company had already jeopardized patient care.

With state budgets under pressure, Michigan says it can no longer afford the relatively high wages of the public workers, which range from $15 to $20 an hour, along with health and retirement benefits. According to Salary.com, certified nursing assistants in private long-term care facilities in the area earn a median salary of just over $25,000 a year, or about $12.25 a hour.

A judge has granted a preliminary injunction that keeps the state employees at work while the lawsuit moves forward.

The injunction also prevents new workers from J2S Healthforce Group, which recently won the contract to replace the state employees, from taking jobs at the facility. The company has provided fill-in nursing assistants at the veterans’ home since 2001.

Union leaders denounce the efforts to roll back years of negotiated wages and benefits. The public sector gave “people a chance to buy a home and send their kids to college,” said Eileen Kirlin, executive vice president of the public services division of the Services Employees International Union. When contractors take over and pay lower wages, “we’re just driving everybody down.”

Recent data from Arizona shows that privately operated prisons often cost more to operate than state-run facilities. A study by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit Washington group, found that in 33 of 35 occupations, using contractors cost the federal government billions of dollars more than using government employees.

This is just the latest suspension of compulsory contracting.

 In the face of community opposition, the government has been forced to suspend the process for years.

Regional Hospital did a thorough investigation of the performance of steriPro or a comprehensive risk assessment. Compounding the quality issues, the contract involves the transportation of very delicate surgical instruments over rural highways in all weather conditions, which is not recommended by their manufacturers, " said Hurley. "We urge the Pembroke Regional Hospital to reconsider the contracting out of sterilization. We are dismayed by the huge expenditure the hospital must now make on surgical trays and equipment to use this contractor, in order to have sufficient supply on hand," said Cindy shulz, president of CuPe local 1502, which represents staff at the hospital.

Renfrew and area residents are among the patients seeking services at PRH. At Renfrew Victoria Hospital, sterilization is done on-site.

the hospital reached a turning point five years ago, explained president and CeO Randy Penney. "We made the decision to make the investment," said Penney. "We have invested in both the equipment and staff and have all staff certified."

Labour MPs are particularly angry because London’s University College Hospital – one of the best NHS brain treatment centres in the country – has been told to stop treating brain cancer patients and send them to HCA.

HCA is already at the centre of a massive row after being accused of overcharging the NHS by millions of pounds in a damning report released last week.

HCA has a chequered history in the US and has been fined more than $1billion for mis-selling healthcare.

A senior hospital source told the Mirror: “The radiotherapy community is very concerned about the way NHS England is handing out contracts for NHS patients.

Patients who were being treated there have been told to move to Barts. NHS England have told UCHL that they won’t pay for any more NHS patients to be treated there because they’ve signed a contract with two private hospitals – one of which is HCA

HCA, along with two other private hospital groups, was at the centre of a scathing report from the Competition Commission last week which showed that between 2009 and 2011 they overcharged by up to £193million

food that accounted for nearly half (43 per cent) of its $194 million spending in 2011/2012

A year after it was created, the Lower Mainland BISS contracted out patient food services and house cleaning operations, both to Sodexo

10-year, $330-million agreement

Sodexo is responsible for conducting audits and surveys

a 2008 independent survey of patient experiences in acute care across all VCH facilities reported a dismal 52 per cent for "overall quality of food"

The glowing audits had been done by Sodexo's own kitchen staff

getting awarded these contracts is very competitive. Providing recipes opens the door to determining food costs and therefore profits.

Nor does Sodexo reveal its suppliers for specific clients.

there's zero accountability,"

"There's no traceability

"There's a reason why hospital food feels like it's sort of a last frontier in the good food movement. And I think it is in part due to the fact that it is the place where some of the stickiest, deepest, dirtiest corporate contracts exist."

in 2011, Sodexo paid $20 million to settle an accusation of fraud levied against it by the state of New York.

former Sodexo managers turned whistle-blowers, claimed that the company had pressured its suppliers for huge "off-invoice" rebates that were never shared with its clients.

The New York State Attorney General's office investigated, and found that Sodexo had in fact failed to disclose supplier rebates it received, and to pass the savings on to state facilities, including a treatment centre for at-risk youth and a service organization for developmentally disabled children, as its contract required.

Sodexo has "vendor discount agreements;" discounts on based on large-volume orders. "But there is nothing in our contracts to say that clients are entitled to that,"

Vancouver Coastal Health has actually reduced the reporting it requires from Sodexo. A Freedom of Information request showed that VCHA does not collect food purchase records from Sodexo, an item of information the original contract required.

Neither are there any records available for patient tray audits.

"While this documentation is indeed a requirement in our agreement with Sodexo, it is one that we ourselves have waived."

"patient food user committee." VCHA's 2004 contract with Sodexo stipulated that each of its facilities would set up such a body to provide ongoing patient input and feedback.

UBC Hospital never created the envisioned committee to seek patients’ views

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said Friday no one could comment as the matter is before the court. This week, CUPE filed in Regina Court of Queen's Bench an application to appeal its unsuccessful access to information request. The union had applied to the Ministry of Health in March 2014 for a copy of the contract between 3sHealth and K-Bro. The ministry responded saying the record didn't exist. So CUPE took the matter to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for review. According to the court documents, the commissioner concluded "the Ministry of Health had made a reasonable effort to locate the record" and made no recommendation.

In its application, CUPE maintained the Ministry of Health has the record - "even though it may be in the hands of a related third party being 3sHealth and/or a regional health authority" - and hasn't made a reasonable effort to locate it. Even if the ministry doesn't have custody of the record, it had an obligation to refer the request to the appropriate government body or local authority, CUPE adds in the document. The action seeks an order from the court compelling disclosure of the contract. The application is currently scheduled to come before the Court of Queen's Bench on April 9.

We are meant to be known by the 5,000 not the five billion.

When Serco made its bid to run NHS community-health services in Suffolk – district nursing, physiotherapy, OT, end-of-life palliative care, wheelchair services – it reckoned it could do it for £140m over three years – £16m less than the existing NHS "provider" had managed, which would eventually allow for their standard profit margin of around 6% a year. When it started to become clear that Serco was the frontrunner, there was some opposition, but perhaps not nearly enough.

"There's also the inability of the public sector to monitor effectively,

Serco was officially awarded the contract in October 2012, which meant that hundreds of staff would leave the NHS, and become company employees. Within weeks, the company proposed a huge reorganisation, which involved getting rid of one in six jobs. This has since come down to one in seven, two thirds of which will apparently go via natural wastage. In terms of their pay and conditions, the hundreds of people who have been transferred from the NHS to Serco are protected by provisions laid down by the last government, but it is already becoming clear that many new staff are on inferior contracts: as one local source puts it, "they've got less annual leave, less sick pay … it's significantly worse."

We've still got the same number of patients," she says, "so the workload has massively increased." As a result, she and her colleagues are having to cut people out of their previous entitlement to treatment at home. "That completely goes against our ethics," she says, "but that's what we're having to do.

The NHS is a relatively new area of controversy for Serco, but concerns about their practices run across many other areas

The strangest thing, though, is the gap between Serco's size and how little the public knows about it. Not for nothing does so much coverage of its work include the sentence "the biggest company you've never heard of".

great wall of commercial confidentiality

they're good at winning contracts, but too often, they're bad at running services."

The National Audit Office is doing work around the development of quasi-monopoly private providers, which is the world we're moving into. We don't really understand the size of their empires.

"New Brunswickers have been very clear - change is necessary and government needs to get its fiscal house in order," Macfarlane said. "We can no longer continue with the status quo. "We are undergoing a strategic program review to look for efficiencies and to uncover programs or services that could be changed or discontinued as well as find sources for revenue." McGarry said in a speech to the Rotary Club of Saint John in the Port City on Monday that a needed ideological shift in health care should see even greater use of private health-care firms.

"I think there are opportunities for the private sector to get more involved in our system in the things that we don't do as well as we should," he said. "Publicly paid, but privately delivered, contracted. "Do some of the services we provide under a public system really belong in the public system?" McGarry specifically cited outpatient services. "If you look at hospitals these days, you find so many ambulatory care services that are in the hospital system," he said. "Sometimes there is a private provider out in the community.

We have physio, there is private physio. We have audiologists, there are private audiologists. We have dietitians, there are private dietitians. You start to say, 'How did we ever get into this?' "As we start to shrink our infrastructure, these are the things that pop out." McGarry said the health authority is now at the beginning of five-year plan to redirect $48 million currently being spent on hospital infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the government has declined to reveal the prospective proponent of the food and cleaning services contract until a deal is finalized. But CUPE spokeswoman Norma Robinson says the Department of Health has informed the union that food and facilities management giants Sodexo, Aramark and Compass Group are involved in the bidding process. She said the union was told that the government is seeking a 10-year contract, first negotiating with Sodexo, to hammer down a deal within the next three to six months.

Sodexo has previously confirmed its interest in the contract to the Telegraph-Journal. Robinson said on Tuesday that questions remain as to what the impact of any deal will be on current public sector workers. "We don't know what this contract is going to look like from the union perspective," she said. "They are saying it's just the management today, but what does that look like when Sodexo gets in here? "What does that look like for the employees of the system."

Robinson added: "John McGarry has a five-year health plan that he is rolling out. The government says it's on a fiscal cliff saying there is money to be saved in health care. I think this is the first step to the privatization of health care."

"I think there are opportunities for the private sector to get more involved in our system in the things that we don't do as well as we should," he said. "Publicly paid, but privately delivered, contracted. "Do some of the services we provide under a public system really belong in the public system?" McGarry specifically cited outpatient services.

"New Brunswickers have been very clear - change is necessary and government needs to get its fiscal house in order," Macfarlane said. "We can no longer continue with the status quo. "We are undergoing a strategic program review to look for efficiencies and to uncover programs or services that could be changed or discontinued as well as find sources for revenue." McGarry said in a speech to the Rotary Club of Saint John in the Port City on Monday that a needed ideological shift in health care should see even greater use of private health-care firms.

Macfarlane stressed that the contract is "only outsourcing the management of the services." "CUPE staff will remain in their union and will continue to be employees of the province of New Brunswick," he added. Boudreau has said that the move will save the province millions of dollars through efficiencies brought in by a private company. The government maintains that change is needed.

"If you look at hospitals these days, you find so many ambulatory care services that are in the hospital system," he said. "Sometimes there is a private provider out in the community. "We have physio, there is private physio. We have audiologists, there are private audiologists. We have dietitians, there are private dietitians. You start to say, 'How did we ever get into this?'

"As we start to shrink our infrastructure, these are the things that pop out." McGarry said the health authority is now at the beginning of five-year plan to redirect $48 million currently being spent on hospital infrastructure. Meanwhile, the government has declined to reveal the prospective proponent of the food and cleaning services contract until a deal is finalized. But CUPE spokeswoman Norma Robinson says the Department of Health has informed the union that food and facilities management giants Sodexo, Aramark and Compass Group are involved in the bidding process.

She said the union was told that the government is seeking a 10-year contract, first negotiating with Sodexo, to hammer down a deal within the next three to six months. Sodexo has previously confirmed its interest in the contract to the Telegraph-Journal. Robinson said on Tuesday that questions remain as to what the impact of any deal will be on current public sector workers. "We don't know what this contract is going to look like from the union perspective," she said. "They are saying it's just the management today, but what does that look like when Sodexo gets in here?

"What does that look like for the employees of the system." Robinson added: "John McGarry has a five-year health plan that he is rolling out. The government says it's on a fiscal cliff saying there is money to be saved in health care. I think this is the first step to the privatization of health care."

Macfarlane stressed that the contract is "only outsourcing the management of the services." "CUPE staff will remain in their union and will continue to be employees of the province of New Brunswick," he added. Boudreau has said that the move will save the province millions of dollars through efficiencies brought in by a private company. The government maintains that change is needed.

"New Brunswickers have been very clear - change is necessary and government needs to get its fiscal house in order," Macfarlane said. "We can no longer continue with the status quo. "We are undergoing a strategic program review to look for efficiencies and to uncover programs or services that could be changed or discontinued as well as find sources for revenue." McGarry said in a speech to the Rotary Club of Saint John in the Port City on Monday that a needed ideological shift in health care should see even greater use of private health-care firms.

"I think there are opportunities for the private sector to get more involved in our system in the things that we don't do as well as we should," he said. "Publicly paid, but privately delivered, contracted. "Do some of the services we provide under a public system really belong in the public system?" McGarry specifically cited outpatient services.

"If you look at hospitals these days, you find so many ambulatory care services that are in the hospital system," he said. "Sometimes there is a private provider out in the community. "We have physio, there is private physio. We have audiologists, there are private audiologists. We have dietitians, there are private dietitians. You start to say, 'How did we ever get into this?' "As we start to shrink our infrastructure, these are the things that pop out." McGarry said the health authority is now at the beginning of five-year plan to redirect $48 million currently being spent on hospital infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the government has declined to reveal the prospective proponent of the food and cleaning services contract until a deal is finalized. But CUPE spokeswoman Norma Robinson says the Department of Health has informed the union that food and facilities management giants Sodexo, Aramark and Compass Group are involved in the bidding process. She said the union was told that the government is seeking a 10-year contract, first negotiating with Sodexo, to hammer down a deal within the next three to six months.

Sodexo has previously confirmed its interest in the contract to the Telegraph-Journal. Robinson said on Tuesday that questions remain as to what the impact of any deal will be on current public sector workers. "We don't know what this contract is going to look like from the union perspective," she said. "They are saying it's just the management today, but what does that look like when Sodexo gets in here? "What does that look like for the employees of the system?"

On Tuesday he said whether Switzer collects the entire amount is unknown at this point, because the LHIN recently learned that Switzer was hired at the Alzheimer Society but hasn't learned how much he'll be paid. According to Switzer's contract, if he lands a job during the 23 months that pays at least 75 per cent of his former pay, the LHIN will pay out 50 per cent of the balance owed. If he makes less than 75 per cent, the LHIN owes him a lump sum equivalent to the balance owed, less statutory deductions. "So the amount he's going to get in terms of severance isn't determined yet," said Girash, who described the 22-month provision as "generous." But he explained it was part of Switzer's original contract from 10 years ago. Last year, when the LHIN board was negotiating a new contract for Switzer, members really wanted to get rid of some costly provisions, particularly a 14 per cent performance bonus. "We wanted to eliminate that, which we were successful in doing," said Girash.

He said to get that bonus provision eliminated, the board felt it had to agree to continue with the 22-month severance clause. "It looks big but it was, I think, a good stewardship of what we were dealing with from 10 years ago and moving to make it better," said Girash. "The 22 months is really almost a safety net if the individual can't get anything else, but obviously he has." The board agreed to the one-time $16,150 payment in 2015 during negotiations in order to eliminate the 14 per cent bonus clause, he said. Switzer started working at the Alzheimer Society on Aug. 15. Attempts to reach him Tuesday - to ask what he makes - were not successful. He was replaced at the LHIN on an interim basis by the second in command, Ralph Ganter, who remains the acting CEO. The LHIN is a planning agency that co-ordinates health care in the Windsor/Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton region. It's responsible for almost 100 different agencies - including hospitals - doling out more than $1 billion annually in Ministry of Health funding. Girash wouldn't say what Ganter makes but indicated it's less than what Switzer made, and because Ganter's old job hasn't been filled, the actual cost of Switzer's termination amounts to the topup Ganter receives. Ganter made $201,920.69 in 2015 when he was senior director at the LHIN. Girash said the board isn't going to decide on a permanent CEO at this time because the LHIN is in the midst of planning for big changes expected when the Ontario government passes its Patients First legislation. Patients First would see LHINs take on big new roles, including co-ordinating primary care (family doctors) and home care.

It's very, very demanding and takes a lot of stafftime, a lot of board time," said Girash. "So it wouldn't be fair to lay on top of everyone a recruiting process." bcross@postmedia.com twitter.com/winstarcross © 2016 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Illustration: • Nick Brancaccio, Files / Former LHIN CEO Gary Switzer, right, sits on a panel with David Musyj, Dave Cooke and Janice Kaffer at a hospital town hall meeting in November 2015. Switzer was terminated in May. His severance of more than $500,000 is being described as "one hell of a golden parachute."

The Compass Group, often described as the world's largest contract food services company, locked out over 200 workers at seven B.C. long term care homes on Sept. 29.

just over $12 an hour

without a contract since December 2010

Steelworkers local 2009

At Arbutus Care, as around the world, Compass provides contracted food services to the facility's owners, in this case the Revera company.

come in early and work through our breaks to get our work done

We are all working very hard and we deserve more than a raise of five cents an hour.

casual status

ineligible for the benefits

Compass is paying less than other contractors in the sector

Compass was listed in 2010 as one of the Fortune 500 top global companies, ranked as number 424 in that elite listing. It is listed as number nine in an online article about the globe's largest employers last year, ranking just behind the Agricultural Bank of China and just ahead of IBM.

still generating profit of over a billion English pounds

The Canadian division of Compass, which in 2010 employed over 23,000 "associates," generated $1.4 billion in revenue.

At the time of the announcement, Omni president Rob Mitchelson expressed surprise his company's bid for the contract was rejected. Omni had been contracted last year to provide similar services in Regina.

In its claim, Omni says it entered into a short-term contract with RQHR in July last year to provide services to reduce surgical wait times under a Ministry of Health initiative. The contract was to end in March this year but was later extended to Aug. 31 and then to Dec. 30.

In January, RQHR had issued a request for proposals, seeking applications to provide non-hospital, insured surgical services, running from Sept. 1 this year to Dec. 31, 2013, with an option to renew for two fiscal years.

Omni maintains it stands to lose in excess of $10 million over the course of the proposed service agreement to December 2015 because of RQHR's alleged "breach of contract ... or breach of its legally enforceable obligation," according to the claim.

Since 2000, the amount the federal government spends each year on contracts has increased from $200 billion to well over $500 billion.

Unlike other studies that compared the salaries of federal employees to their private sector counterparts, POGO’s analysis compared those salaries and benefits to what contractors actually billed the federal government for comparable services.

Of the 35 job classifications that POGO studied, contractor billing rates were on average 83 percent higher than what the government pays federal employees.

Follow the link to read the report.

HEU members working for Spanish-multinational Acciona at Royal Jubilee Hospital are one of the last major group of employees working in support services in our province that are without a new contract.  More than 4,400 HEU members work for four multinational corporations as support services employees on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland.