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Twenty-nine temporary full-time workers at North Sask Laundry (NSL) are losing their jobs on May 10 because hospital laundry currently done in the facility will be trucked to Calgary. The Saskatoon Health Region handed the work to 
K-Bro, a private for-profit company in Alberta

“It just doesn’t make any sense to ship laundry seven hours each way, instead of one and a half hours,” says Anita Labossiere, president of CUPE 3736 and a laundry worker herself. “It’s hard on the environment, costly, and a loss to our community.”

Saskatchewan’s health care services are being reviewed by 3SHealth with hospital laundry services the first service being examined.

Prince Albert-based North Sask Laundry could have taken on the Saskatoon Health Region’s full load of laundry, North Sask Laundry's general manager said this week.

This goes against Saskatoon Health Region vice-president of finance Nilesh Kavia’s assertion in Friday’s edition of the Daily Herald that “There is no single facility in Saskatchewan that can process that much.”

On Thursday, April 26, Dogniez was forced to announce layoffs at North Sask Laundry to the tune of 29 temporary full time equivalent positions.

Brockville Recorder and Times Wed Apr 22 2015

It's not city council's place to tell Brockville General Hospital where to save money, a majority of finance committee members believe. The committee rejected a motion by councillor Leigh Bursey that urged BGH to reconsider its decision late last year to close its internal laundry service and outsource it to private providers.

Bursey's motion stated the closure "would eliminate 12 local jobs and move the work to Kingston," a charge BGH's top administrator rejected. "I think that this is a nominal savings and in the process it is removing jobs from the overall economy," Bursey told the committee. "I've never believed that starting at the bottom is where you're going to find the savings that you're looking for." Mayor David Henderson opposed the motion, arguing the city should not tell BGH how to achieve efficiencies. He did, however, acknowledge the hospital should seek input from the community on vital services.

Laundry workers feel hung out to dry with private laundry deal Over 35 CUPE members and community supporters rallied at a lunchtime information picket on Wednesday, November 19, to call for fairness and respect for North Sask Laundry workers. With the closure of the North Sask Laundry facility looming, CUPE Local 3736 laundry workers have been waiting over a year for news about severance and re-training support. Over 75 jobs are being lost in the Prince Albert area due to the privatization of laundry services under the Brad Wall government.

By Ella Bedard | February 3, 2015

A new CCPA Saskatchewan report by University of Winnipeg economists concludes that privatizing provincial laundry services may garner some short-term savings but at long-term costs. In 2013, Saskatchewan's government announced that it would be replacing five publicly owned hospital laundries. Sometime this year, those regional services will be replaced with a private centralized laundry services operated by Alberta-based K-Bro Linen, which will establish a single plant in Regina to serve the entire province.

The report finds that laundry plant closure in Prince Albert alone will result in 74 jobs lost, causing a decline in labour income of $2.5 million in the region, and a decline in regional GDP of $3.7 million. "It's a decent paying job, it's Monday to Friday, and there are a lot of couples that work here, so they are both going to lose their jobs," said CUPE Local 3736 president Anita Labossiere, whose union represents 74 workers at North Sask Laundry in Prince Albert, one of five locations that will soon be closed.

The Saskatoon Health Region has permanently closed its aging central laundry facility

deteriorating equipment in the 66-year-old building

the 48,000-square-foot facility serves the city's three hospitals and some long-term care homes outside Saskatoon

25 November 2014

PRINCE ALBERT: Since the announcement of the closure of North Sask Laundry services in May 2013, laundry workers have been waiting for news on what support they will be provided with as the jobs and services they have maintained move out of the Prince Albert area.

Penticton Herald Thu Oct 15 2015

Union leaders trying to save the jobs of hospital laundry workers will try to silently but graphically rally the public to their cause on Oct. 27. Activists will gather at major intersections in the Southern Interior holding up signs that urge Interior Health to re-think plans to contract out laundry services.

There are no marches or speeches. We will simply take our message to the streets, holding up placards for passers-by to read," said Victor Elkins, president the Hospital Employees Union. The union says up to 175 well-paid public sector jobs would be eliminated if IH turns laundry services over to private companies based either in the Lower Mainland or Alberta. An official with the health authority, which announced the possible privatization of services earlier this year, said proposals from competing private- sector firms are still being reviewed.

Oct 5, 2015

Anita Labossiere has worn many hats at North Sask Laundry over the last 13 years. She has been a shipper, laundry aide, loader, sorter, linen coordinator, sewer, and the recording secretary and president of the CUPE local representing the employees.

“I loved the people,” she says. “I loved serving the public and making sure there was quality product for the patients and facilities.”   The local was in bargaining when the shut-down of the facility was announced.

The government’s decision to close laundry facilities in 16 nursing homes in the province is another blow to rural communities

at least 60 employees will be affected

“For years, the government has been telling us that it could not interfere with the nursing homes’ administration; that they were at arm-length. Suddenly, the government can decide by the stroke of a pen to eliminate 16 laundry facilities.”

Oct 25, 2016

With stubbornly high unemployment, Sudbury can’t afford any more job loss, say laid off Sudbury Hospital Services laundry workers. Following a brief meeting with Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault at a downtown coffee shop last weekend, the hospital laundry staff renewed their appeal for him to intervene and keep jobs local. They will be taking their call for help to keep their hospital laundry jobs, directly to Thibeault’s doorstep on Wednesday, November 2 with a rally at the Sudbury MPP’s area office.

Workers to file grievances as union says contract has been breached

Oct 14, 2016

Health Sciences North has switched its laundry services from a Sudbury company to one in Hamilton, putting 36 people out of work.

Dec 17, 2013

REGINA – A newly inked decade long health care laundry privatization contract with for-profit, Alberta-based corporation K-Bro Inc. means Saskatchewan will lose jobs and taxpayer funds will be diverted to corporate profits,

K-Bro is the largest private health care laundry processor in Canada with the majority of revenues made from privatization contracts in other provinces. Last year, K-Bro reported total revenues in excess of $126 million and CEO compensation of over $1.2 million in 2011. According to its annual reports, K-Bro recruits temporary foreign labour to keep wages low.

May 5, 2015

Nearly 12,000 British Columbians have signed a petition calling on the provincial government to cancel plans by the Interior Health Authority to privatize hospital laundry services in 11 communities throughout the region. As many as 175 decent, family-supporting jobs could be lost if IHA contracts the service out to one or more of the private companies it has invited to bid on the work. The scheme has also come under fire from local governments with city councils in Nelson and Kamloops adopting motions urging IHA to reconsider the move. In addition, the Vernon mayor has spoken out publicly against privatization. All three communities have regional laundries that could be impacted by the plan.

May 14, 2015

VICTORIA – The voices of 12,423 British Columbians were heard at the provincial legislature this morning with the tabling of a petition calling on government to halt the Interior Health Authority’s plan to privatize hospital laundry services in 11 communities. A delegation of Hospital Employees’ Union laundry workers presented their petition to NDP MLAs Michelle Mungall, Jennifer Rice and opposition health critic Judy Darcy on the steps of the legislature, prior to being tabled during Question Period.

The Post (Hanover) Thu Jul 23 2015

In a bid to further trim spending, the South Bruce Grey Health Centre is contracting out laundry service. Paul Rosebush, the hospital corporation's CEO and president, said the in-house service will be done by a private provider, London Hospital Linen Service, starting on Sept. 8. It would have cost more than $400,000 to modernize the laundry facilities that serve the four hospitals in Chesley, Durham, Kincardine and Walkerton. "We've recognized that the capital replacement costs to maintain our laundry services across our four sites has become prohibitive," Rosebush said during an interview following the annual general meeting of the hospital board on Wednesday. Contracting out the service will also cost less than the $300,000 to $400,000 it costs the hospital to operate its own service each year. The nine employees affected by the move -eight full-time and one part-time -will be given other jobs with the hospital, "Under our collective agreement any full-or part-time workers we have an obligation to find them employment . . . and we're currently in the process of doing that," Rosebush said.

Haggarty also received congratulations from Anne Eadie, the mayor of Kincardine, Brockton Mayor Dave Inglis, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker. In recognition of Haggarty's long service, the board approved naming the training room at the Walkerton hospital site, which also doubles as the meeting room for the board, Haggarty Hall. A plaque recognizing his contribution will be placed inside the room. Haggarty's advice to the new chair and the board was "choose your challenges well and follow through with the necessary supporters of the health care system to make things happen; get involved in the other hospital corporations in Grey and Bruce County and together we will be much stronger in Ontario."

Oct 8, 2015

Lana Acorn - North Sask Laundry workerLana Acorn has worked at North Sask Laundry in Prince Albert for over 11 years. It was supposed to be the job she’d retire from. “I could’ve retired at 58,” she says. Instead, on October 9, she will be out a job.

PRINCE ALBERT – Over 40 North Sask Laundry workers and supporters rallied outside of MLA Victoria Jurgens’ office on Friday and called on her to add her voice to the growing chorus of community concern over the looming closure of the North Sask Laundry facility.

REGINA – CUPE has received notice that Alberta based K-Bro Linens will be opening its private laundry facility on October 12, 2015. This centralized, for profit plant will replace five regional public laundry facilities and result in the loss of close to 400 jobs. CUPE Saskatchewan has concerns about the impact this privatization will have on the local economy and on the quality of linen services.