Why should we care about who cleans our hospitals? That’s the question being asked in a new TV ad campaign sponsored by the Hospital Employees’ Union (CUPE) that begins today.
The ads respond to a wave of health care privatization that could result in the loss of 5,000 skilled and experienced health care support workers over the next four months.
“The provincial government is putting patients at risk by rushing headlong into health care privatization,” says HEU secretary-business manager Chris Allnutt. “And they’re doing so without public debate or discussion and without a shred of evidence to support their privatization policy.
Allnutt says the ads build on public opinion that has swung solidly against the privatization of hospital support services over the last year.
HEU’s current TV ad campaign is scheduled to run for three-weeks at an estimated cost of $326,000 including $35,000 in creative, production and agency costs. The ads have been produced by Vancouver-based Now Communications Group.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees — HEU’s national union — is providing critical financial support for the campaign.
-30- Contact: Mike Old, communications officer, 604-828-6771 (cell)