Thank you, Mr. Speaker. GNWT labour relations recently informed the Union of Northern Workers that Stanton Territorial Hospital’s eight maintenance services workers are likely to face layoffs, possibly as early as June 2015. While Cabinet communications recently softened and confused this announcement, the writing is on the wall.
Stanton’s food services and housekeeping employees have already been privatized. With the public-private partnership approach to the Stanton rebuild project, this government is committing itself to yet more privatization of government jobs and long-term provision of formerly government services to profit-focused private enterprise.
Should the P3 rebuild of Stanton go ahead with these layoffs, Stanton Hospital will lose the knowledge, experience and demonstrated dedication these long-term employees provide.
Housekeeping and food service jobs were the beginning. Now it appears this approach is to be applied to facility maintenance, and what other services go remains to be seen.
We have little experience with P3 projects and for good reason. Our record of success, and that of many others, is poor. Seldom does outsourcing provide equivalent quality work or match the cost of public services. Outsourcing can have far more serious consequences than bland food or dirty floors. Lowest-bid contractors will not have the institutional memory or services background with Stanton that long-term employees now bring to work every day.
Current safety and maintenance standards will likely be compromised when dealing with the highly stringent requirements of ventilation and sterile environments hospitals require. Lives are often at stake if essential structural systems within the hospital fail. The first time the power goes out or the oxygen system fails or the boiler bursts, consequences will become clear.
The current maintenance staff at Stanton Territorial Hospital are considered by all who work there as an integral part of the health care team. They should be treated that way. Instead, the equivocal government communications on their future has destroyed the previously positive working atmosphere of the maintenance services workers currently at Stanton.
Workers want honesty and certainty and a clear option to continue on the job under a new employer with comparable compensation. This government apparently wins awards for how it employs people and treats employees. Let’s see a demonstration of this worthiness here. Provide the workers with clear information and ensure that any P3 partnership contract include a fair opportunity for them to continue their role and apply the experience they have gained under our watch.
I will have questions. Mahsi.