Laundry workers hope new poll will prompt Sudbury hospital to reconsider layoffs

A poll commissioned by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions says Sudbury residents want 38 hospital laundry service jobs kept in the community.

A total of 1,800 residents took part in the telephone poll in late 2016 not long after Health Sciences North announced it would end its contract with the local hospital laundry.

HSN plans to truck hospital linen to and from a facility in Hamilton to be cleaned.

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The poll results are no surprise to Sharon Richer, the secretary-treasurer of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.

Richer says the OCHU wanted to get a sense of what the community was feeling about the pending layoffs.

"Almost 92 per cent of the people that were polled do not support a decision by Health Sciences North to end the contract with Sudbury Hospital Services. And they do not agree that they should contract out the laundry down to Hamilton," she told CBC News.

"It was very important [to the residents] to have the economic stability of 38 good-paying, full-time positions here in Sudbury.

Reconsider the options?

Richer says the poll results are being sent to hospital officials and to Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault.

"We're asking that the hospital board re-look at trucking the laundry down to the Hamilton area," Richer continued.

"And we're asking Mr. Thibeault's government to provide some funding so that HSN could keep the laundry services open."

CUPE says more than 6,000 Sudburians have signed a petition demanding that HSN continue to use the local hospital laundry.

There are also 1,600 people on a social media group in support of the laundry workers.

"There's a lot of people paying attention to what the hospital and MPP are doing about our situation," said Gisele Dawson, local union chapter president, in a news release.

Last week the laundry workers learned that layoffs are being moved up to mid-March from the end of the month as originally planned.

"It's extremely callous," Richer said.

"Both the hospital and our MPP have had ample time to do the right thing and find a way to rescind these layoffs. Instead they are hastening the job loss."

Poll for OCHU by Public Polling