Job cuts at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) are being called shocking.
Unifor Canada said Unifor Local 2458 members working at the hospital were shocked by the news of the hospital's plan to lay off 80 workers, including those in housekeeping and food services.
Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky has also responded to the layoffs by saying the cuts could cause less sanitation and more infections, along with longer wait times for patients.
“My heart goes out to the food and housekeeping service workers at Windsor Regional Hospital, 80 of whom may have their livelihoods ripped away," Gretzky said in a news release Friday afternoon. "These workers perform essential hospital tasks, including specialized sanitation measures to stop the transmission of infections. The layoffs are expected to cause longer wait times for patients to be moved into hospital beds, and longer waits for patient meals."
Gretzky added that hospitals in Windsor and across the province, have been struggling for years to make ends meet because of chronic provincial funding cuts and freezes.
"These hardworking hospital staff pay for that neglect," she said.
Gretzky said Premier Doug Ford is also planning to slash thousands of good paying public sector jobs and make cuts in health care. She said that will take things from tough to worse for patients, and for frontline workers.
"Windsor deserves more resources for health care to keep our hospitals cleaner, and our patients safer and as well-cared for as we can," said Gretzky. "We don’t deserve cuts; we don’t deserve to be dragged backwards.”
Hospital CEO David Musyj announced on Friday morning that he plans to come up with $7.3 million in savings to balance the 2019/2020 budget.
He insisted that direct patient care will see no change and hoped the positions can be eliminated without layoffs.
“I can tell you that probably 20 of them have already occurred and are already in place,” said Musyj. “We’re going to do as many of those [as possible] through attrition and retirements.”
