Unions To Fight Contracting Out Of Food Services

PSA SFWU NUPE
COMBINED UNIONS
27 January 2004
MEDIA RELEASE

Unions To Fight Contracting Out Of Hospital Food Services

''Unions are opposed to the contracting out proposal from the CDHB which would see private firms cooking meals for patients from mid way through this year,'' said Campbell Duignan, Spokesperson for the Combined Unions and Regional Secretary of the Service and Food Workers’ Union who represent workers in CDHB kitchens . He was making the comments prior to the presentation of a joint submission by the Unions to the CDHB on Wednesday 28th January.

“Our objective is to see the best possible food provided to patients by a service that is publicly controlled and staffed. The Board is facing a deficit of millions of dollars and this is a way of reducing costs," said Campbell Duignan.

“The Unions believe that a publicly owned and controlled hospital food service must provide a better service at a cheaper price, since no profit has to be paid to a private contractor. Over time our experience has been that contracting out always results in a loss of quality of service as well as cuts to staff wages and conditions,” said Campbell Duignan.

“We are hopeful that our submission will see the CDHB reconsider the Management Evaluation Team's current preference to contract out. Our members feel very strongly about this issue and are committed to providing an in house service. This is the only way to provide the best quality, and most financially responsible, service to the community,” said Campbell Duignan. “Our members will be supporting the presentation of the submission by baking a cake and giving it to Management as a demonstration of their concern at Charles Luney House (CDHB HQ, Oxford Terrace) at 4.30pm on Wednesday. ”

ENDS

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