Dear Editor:
The Minister of Health, Dustin Duncan, recently wrote a letter to the editor praising the benefits of privatized laundry In the province.
As many people in Yorkton know, we used to have a publicly-operated laundry facility in our city that cleaned linens for the entire Sunrise Health Region. Approximately 46 laundry workers are losing their jobs in the Sunrise Regional Laundry, because of privatization, The closure was expedited because of a serious safety issue and since June 19, our health region has been receiving linens from K-Bro Linen’s plant in Edmonton until the new private plant is open in Regina.
Although Minister Duncan claims that there will be higher quality linens from K-Bro, our members have been alarmed by the poor quality of laundry coming from Edmonton. Our union has received reports of clean laundry coming back still soiled, orders not being filled, limited supplies of towels and wash cloths, gauze bandages found inside the corners of supposedly clean fitted sheets and Peri-Wipes coming back with clean dish cloths.
The inferior quality of hospital linens has a negative impact on both staff and patients. Staff, who are already run off their feet, now have to sort dirty linen Into three separate bags to return to K-Bro and have to search for clean linens. Patients are not getting clean linens or have to wait while staff look for adequate bedding and towels,
Minister Duncan wrote that his government would be monitoring K-Bro’s performance and levying penalties if they don’t meet standards. There is no reason to wait until the Regina plant opens, I suggest the government start monitoring the quality of linens we are receiving from K-Bro now and ensure patients have clean linens.
Pearl Blommaert, President,
CUPE Local 4980
