EDMONTON – Privatizing health care would throw a monkey wrench into provincial attempts to encourage orderly labour relations in the health services sector, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has warned in a submission to the Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada.

"If widespread privatization takes place," the AUPE submission says, "the likelihood of disruptions in the health care system... increase."

The differing approaches to essential services legislation in Canadian provinces will all become harder to enforce if heath services are delivered by a welter of private agencies and companies, the submission argues in a section on labour relations in health care.

"Widespread privatization will not reduce unionization," the AUPE submission says. "Indeed, in AUPE’s experience, employees in private, for profit care facilities are clamouring for union representation because of the difficult, often appalling, circumstances in which they work.

"AUPE is committed to bringing union representation to these workers and continues to successfully organize in this area," the brief notes.

However, the AUPE submission says, widespread privatization would "make provincial attempts to impose overall order on labour relations in the health sector infinitely more difficult, if not impossible.

"It will inevitably increase the prospects for frequent labour disruptions in the sector," it says.
The report also argues that privatization, with its inevitable emphasis on controlling costs and keeping salaries of health care workers low, will ultimately have a harmful effect on the level and quality of service in the system.

Trades workers, dietary staff and housekeeping staff workers in the health system all require specialized knowledge and a commitment to public health, the submission says.
"They deserve fair pay that reflects the specialized knowledge and commitment required as members of the health services team," it concludes.

The brief recommends that the commission take measures to ensure that all members of the health care team are fairly compensated.

The AUPE submission also argues that health care should be treated as a fundamental right of Canadian citizens, that long-term care should be brought into the national public health system and that a national system of pharmacare should be developed to ensure Canadians are able to afford the pharmaceutical treatments they require.

The AUPE brief also recommends that the federal government should strictly enforce the five principles of the Canada Health Act – but argues that commitment should be balanced by an increase in federal health funding to the provinces.

The submission also calls for special efforts to be made to improve health services for women and Aboriginal Canadians.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)

Click here to see a complete copy of AUPE’s submission to the Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada.

Click here for a link to the Commission’s Web site.
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