About 250 dietary and cleaning staff employed by the British corporation Compass Group at three
The contract terms, issued by mediator-arbitrator Don Munroe yesterday, include wage increases of up to 27 per cent, along with a number of other provisions.
The collective agreement with the Hospital Employees’
The HEU members work at B.C. Children’s and Women’s Hospital, Sunnyhill Health Centre for Children and the B.C. Cancer Agency.
HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy says that while wages are still lower than those paid before government-mandated privatization, the agreement provides a modest financial boost for workers and their families.
“Wages paid to hospital workers by these corporations remain out-of-sync with the cost-of-living in
The union was certified as the bargaining agent for the workers in August, 2005. The workers gave their bargaining committee a 99 per cent strike mandate last July and a mediator was subsequently appointed by the LRB.
HEU has now reached first contracts covering 2,400 cleaning and dietary staff employed by the three corporations in the Lower Mainland and
The LRB is expected to appoint a mediator-arbitrator for those talks in the new year.
Aramark, Sodexho and Compass received long-term contracts from some B.C. health authorities after the B.C. Liberal government legislated away collective agreement protections against contracting out in 2002.