Food service workers win meeting with Providence Health Care CEO Carl Roy
A group of St. Paul’s Hospital employees have ended a sit-in at the executive offices of Providence Health Care after the Catholic hospital group’s CEO Carl Roy agreed to a meeting to discuss plans to contract out their jobs.
The workers staged the overnight sit-in on the fifth floor of St. Paul’s Hospital to urge management of the Catholic hospital group to reconsider plans to privatize in-patient and retail food services at St. Paul’s, Mount St. Joseph, Holy Family and at other hospitals it operates.
Last week, Providence rejected a proposal from unionized workers that included significant wage concessions in a bid to keep the hospitals’ dietary services in-house. As a result, about 275 dietary workers’ jobs are at risk.
The workers ended their sit-in early this afternoon — 24 hours after it started — after Roy agreed to meet with them next Wednesday.
Contact: Mike Old, communications officer, 604-828-6771 (cell)