Bayshore Healthcare Employees Join UFCW Local 401
November 12, 2019 – Calgary, AB. Home care workers at Bayshore Healthcare in Strathmore, Alberta, have voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 401.
After a significant effort on the part of Bayshore employees in Wheatland County to form a union, a strong majority cast ballots in favour of joining the UFCW in an effort to secure better working conditions.
“We are really happy and proud of what you have been able to achieve,” said UFCW Canada organizer, Jason Parrell, in a message to Bayshore employees. “We stood strong, and we won!”
Parrell described the organizing campaign as an “uphill battle” and the employees’ win as a testament to the resolve of working people to get together and to try to make things better.
“We are pleased to welcome Bayshore Healthcare employees to our growing UFCW family,” said UFCW Local 401 President, Tom Hesse. “They work in a caring profession, and the services they provide to people in our communities should give them immense pride. We’re excited to help them achieve all that they set out to achieve in deciding to work together and form a union.”
Bayshore Healthcare is a large, private, for-profit healthcare provider and has more than 100 locations across Canada, more than 13,500 staff, and 350,000 clients.
The roughly forty, newly unionized Bayshore employees in Strathmore will now be canvassed on their priorities for their first union contract, and UFCW Local 401 will soon send notice to their employer to commence negotiations.
“When people stand together, they can win,” said UFCW Local 401 Executive Director, Chris O’Halloran. “This vote is the first important step towards a better workplace for those who take such great care of others. We’re proud they’ve chosen to stand with us.”
UFCW Local 401 is Alberta’s largest private-sector union, representing more than 32,000 working Albertans in diverse sectors of the economy, including retail, food processing, healthcare, and education.
Posted on: November 14,2019