Fifty-five care aides, activity aides and licensed practical nurses employed by subcontractor Just Care Ltd. and working at Eden Intermediate Care in Chilliwack have voted 89 per cent in favour of joining the Hospital Employees’ Union earlier this week.
The workers joined the union despite the fact that Eden Intermediate had replaced its previous subcontractor while it was in the midst of collective agreement negotiations last year. As a result, the workers were laid off.
“The Just Care workers exercised their right to join a union despite threats that the company’s contract with Eden Intermediate would be cancelled, and did so with an impressive show of strength,” says HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy. “We are very pleased to welcome them to HEU.”
Darcy says the next step is for the members to meet and elect bargaining committee representatives from within their ranks in preparation for negotiations for a first collective agreement.
“We want to reach a first collective agreement that establishes better working and caring conditions for our members and the residents they look after as soon as possible,” says Darcy.
The Just Care employees at Eden Intermediate are the latest among more than 630 health care workers at nine different facilities who have joined HEU since Labour Day. They provide care and support in long-term care, assisted living and diagnostic services in Prince George, Osoyoos, Nelson, New Westminster, Surrey, Coquitlam, Vancouver and at Abbotsford’s new Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.