The Editor:
Our community healthcare workers deserve a fair deal.
The ongoing crisis in our hospital facilities is a consequence of the chronic underfunding of the vital community healthcare sector.
This undervaluing of community-based healthcare puts unnecessary and costly stress on our entire healthcare system.
We cannot expect to meet the increased demands of an aging population, and crises such as the pandemic, without a fair deal for workers that provide critical health care services in our communities.
We also cannot expect to reduce the strain on our facilities without investing in the community healthcare services that lessen the need for acute care in hospitals.
For too long, these vital community healthcare workers have been an afterthought when it comes to allocating healthcare resources in B.C.
The consequences of this are being felt every day: Facilities operating above capacity, a recruitment and retention crisis, burnout and a decreased standard of services despite the best efforts of underpaid and overworked people.
This should not be a surprise given that these workers make some of the lowest wages anywhere in healthcare in Canada.
We urgently need to invest in our community healthcare workers to bolster our entire healthcare system.
As bargaining resumes, the B.C. provincial government and the Health Employers Association of BC must be ready to negotiate a fair deal for community healthcare workers.
- Dylan Webb, Port Coquitlam, CUPE Local 4816 president
