Thursday, December 3, 2009

Reap What Ye Sow


The news that 200 workers at a seniors' care home had been fired just after they voted to join HEU would not even be noteworthy if we had not noticed which particular care home is in question here.

Completed in June 2008, the privately owned Sunridge Place facility was built to replace Cowichan Lodge, a government-run care home that served the Cowichan Valley for close to 80 years.

Despite a strong community effort to save Cowichan Lodge, the last patients were moved to Sunridge Place about a year ago.

The closing of Cowichan in favor of this new private facility was just one of many similar initiatives by Gordon Campbell.

This case was particularly galling because of how much the local community enjoyed the staff and services of Cowichan Lodge over such a long period of service.

Now, with private contractors happily in business under the Gordo banner, closing s and labour strife are the norm.

Thanks again, GC.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually David, that the 200 workers got fired after voting to join HEU or any union is very newsworthy, regardless of the particularly sinister aspects of this particular case.

Workers have a right to unionize without thug employers just firing all workers.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the previous poster.
It smacks of the court decision that Wal-Mart can close the store (the only store) that became unionized.
This is from someone who has never been a union member because of the bad practices of unions years ago.
I do however,believe that workers shouldn't have to have three part time jobs (with no benefits) just to survive.