Local Hospital Employees Union workers in Nelson are joining fellow members from other communities in the province as part of the Leap for Local Laundry rally Monday (February 29) in front of the courthouse on the corner of Vernon and Ward Streets.

Nikki Inouye and Baljit Sandhu wave to motorists Monday morning as the Hospital Employees Union rallies against possible laundry service privatization at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. - image credit: Richard Rolke/morning star Laundry workers used the extra day in February to send a message about possible privatization.

KELOWNA - Rallies are being staged up and down the valley on Monday, as hospital workers protest Interior Health's possible privatization of laundry services. The Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) says it picked February 29 to "Leap for Laundry." Jean Bertrand is among the unionized workers who gathered outside Kelowna General Hospital, fighting to keep laundry services in-house.

KAMLOOPS - Members of the Hospital Employees Union rallied outside a seniors care home in Kamloops this afternoon. Several dozen HEU members gathered on the lawn outside of Ponderosa Lodge, as the decision to privatize laundry services across the Interior Health Authority looms. If IHA decides to contract out, 175 jobs at 11 facilities throughout the Interior, would be eliminated.

The recent revelation about out-of-control C. difficile infection rates and the breakdown of the infection prevention and control programs at Burnaby and Royal Columbian hospitals should surprise no one.

Op-ed published in Thursday's Vancouver Sun detailing some of the warning signs that preceded a major C. diff outbreak at Burnaby General.