Approximately 80 Inglewood Care Centre employees rallied outside the seniors' facility Thursday to protest what they say are the low, stagnant wages offered by employer Carecorp.
After more than 12 months of failed contract negotiations, the Hospital Employees' Union served strike notice in November, prompting Carecorp to pursue mediation through mid-January. Job action is currently suspended.
However, if a new contract isn't commensurate with the salaries and benefits of union workers in other long-term care facilities, a strike is a distinct possibility, according to Neil Monckton, communications officer with the Hospital Employees' Union.
"These wages are not even a living wage," he said. "It's not a dirty little secret, but it's certainly an unpleasant surprise when people find out what's been going on with these workers." n Inglewood care aid earned $15.82 per hour in 1994. Two decades later, the hourly wage for a starting care aid at the West Vancouver centre is $15.83. But while salaries are stationary many benefits have been reduced and some pensions eliminated, according to the union. A Low wages ensure a high turnover rate among the centre's 200 employees. That constant state of flux sometimes affects the facility's 235 residents, according to Monckton.
"The quality of care is not what it could be," he said. mployees are frequently not replaced on sick days, resulting in care aides and licensed practical nurses working shorthanded, he added.
E arecorp has yet to offer any increases to salary or benefits, according to the HEHEU. C "We'd like to just get a deal and they'd like to get on with their lives but until
we have a fair deal I think they're pretty much dug in," he said.
Essential service levels at the centre would be maintained in a strike, according to Monckton.
Unicare, which oversees seniors facilities in B.C. and Alberta, is the owner of the Inglewood Care Centre, although services were contracted to Carecorp in 2011. he HEHEU may demand more transparency from Unicare before signing a contract, according to Monckton.
T "If they're saying there's no more money then what they need to do is put all their financial records
on the table," he said. "If there's a bigger funding problem we need to know."
The Inglewood employees have worked through "great instability," according to Monckton.
"There's been several contract flips and every time there is everybody gets laid off. A new contractor comes in and hires people back and then we re-unionize," he said.
The Inglewood Care Centre provides care for residents who can't live independently due to chronic illness. The centre opened in 1964 and is staffed by 250 workers.
Carecorp declined to comment for the story.
