Keefer Laundry sold to American corporation just days after lucrative health authority contract awarded
Profits from the $50-million laundry deal that the Fraser Health Authority inked with Keefer Laundry Ltd. early last week will be heading south after Milwaukee-based G & K Services Inc. announced its acquisition of the Burnaby company on August 13.
“The sale is disturbing news considering that the FHA’s contract with Keefer Laundry was announced on August 10 with no mention of foreign ownership,” says Zorica Bosancic, spokesperson for the Hospital Employees’ Union.
“It’s bad enough that health care dollars are being diverted to private profits but once again those public dollars will be padding the bottom line of a foreign corporation.”
Bosancic says that the Campbell Liberals’ health privatization and contracting out agenda is costing British Columbians more than money. “It’s taking decent jobs away from working people and their families as well as the public’s right to scrutinize how their dollars are being spent.”
The lucrative 10-year laundry contract takes business away from the Tilbury Regional Hospital Laundry — a publicly-owned facility in Delta recognized for its efficiency and quality service — and will cause the layoffs of 50 HEU members.