Alberta’s government has been slowly privatizing long-term
seniors’ care. This includes allowing private operators to run homes as well as
contracting out services within public-sector seniors’ homes.
AUPE (the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees,
representing workers in both public- and private-sector seniors homes) has
responded to this in several ways. More traditionally, AUPE has pursued better
wages in private-sector homes via a series of labour disputes. In effect, they
are attempting to take wages out of competition and make privatization less
attractive to the government. As part of this bargaining strategy, the union
has characterized the operators as ripping off the taxpayers—in effect casting
itself as protecting the public interest.
More creatively, AUPE has backed a documentary about the terrible food being offered to seniors in public-sector lodges after food
preparation was contracted out, centralized and turned into a reheat-and-eat approach.
The documentary addressed both the palatability and health-effects of this
change. It is a pretty disturbing documentary to view.
A representative comment from a viewer is:
I'd love to lock up all 61 Tory MLA's in the Legislature and feed them this menu. I wonder how long they would tolerate it for themselves. I'd serve it to them for free! I wonder which scum-sucking conservative(s) is(are) benefitting from ripping off seniors in Alberta.
Yikes.The government was eventually embarrassed into reversing this form of contracting out and home-cooked meals will return to seniors
lodges as of December, 2012. There are lots of unique factors at play in this particular instance. But it and
the www.stoptheripoff.com campaign
illustrate the potential of publically embarrassing employers and the state
into doing the right thing. Things which also yield outcomes beneficial to
workers, such as preventing layoffs and avoiding two-tiered wage structures.
-- Bob
Barnetson
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