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The Privatization of Health Care Cleaning Services in Southwestern British Columbia, Canada: Union Responses to Unprecedented Government Actions
Author(s) -
Cohen Marcy
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
antipode
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.177
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1467-8330
pISSN - 0066-4812
DOI - 10.1111/j.0066-4812.2006.00599.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , housekeeping , politics , legislation , public administration , collective bargaining , scope (computer science) , service (business) , public sector , trade union , political science , business , economics , economy , law , international trade , philosophy , biochemistry , linguistics , chemistry , computer science , gene , programming language
This paper analyzes the political dynamics between a newly elected, right‐leaning provincial government and a left‐leaning public sector union that resulted in the privatization of 4000 health support housekeeping jobs in southwestern British Columbia in less than a year. The article documents how government set the stage for privatization, the struggle that ensued when the union resisted concessionary bargaining, and the new challenges that emerged for both union and management once housekeeping and other support services were taken over by multi‐national service corporations. This case is significant because the size and scope of this privatization and the legislation that facilitated it are unprecedented in Canadian history.