Warning message

Please note that this page is from our archives. There may be more up-to-date content about this topic on our website. Use our search engine to find out.

More than 700 dietary and cleaning workers employed by Compass Group at Vancouver Island Health Authority facilities are now members of the Hospital Employees’ Union.

Ballots cast by workers in an October vote were finally counted Tuesday night after the labour board dismissed Compass’s objections.

The workers join 2000 other cleaning and dietary workers, employed by the corporation’s competitors Aramark and Sodexho in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser health authorities, who have joined HEU in the last two years.

HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy said bargaining for a first contract will begin soon.

Workers supported HEU by a margin of 56 per cent over the United Steelworkers of America Local 1-3567 (formerly the IWA).

The new HEU members work for Compass through its two brands – Morrison and Crothall – at some of VIHA’s largest health care facilities including Royal Jubilee, Victoria General and Nanaimo Regional hospitals.