Successorship provisions for the building cleaning sector will provide much needed job security for thousands of janitors across BC

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 30, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The BC government’s Labour Code review Panel has made some promising recommendations to reform the BC Labour Code, the most notable being the implementation of successorship provisions in the Code, according to final submissions SEIU released Friday.

“Adopting this [successorship] amendment is absolutely essential to fighting wage erosion and to making freedom of association a real possibility for BC’s most precarious workers,” the SEIU submission stated.

“Being part of a union means our rights and interests as workers are protected,” said Nadia Khlafa, a cleaner at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan campus. Khlafa has worked in the cleaning sector for over 20 years.  

 “It’s not fair that we would risk losing what we have fought hard to win and have to start from scratch each time there is a contract change at our workplace,” Khlafa added.

Janitorial contracts in the building service sector are awarded through a competitive bidding process. Property managers often award contracts to the lowest bidders to increase profit margins and cut costs for the building owners.

Since the BC Labour Code does not provide any successorship provisions, when cleaning contracts are awarded to a new company, existing employees are required to reapply for the same job with the new contractor. The new company has no obligation to hire them.

This competitive bidding process combined with out-of-date labour laws creates a loophole companies can exploit through contract flipping to circumvent collective bargaining agreements and consequently, erode working conditions.

Last September, over 50 unionized workers cleaning the Canada Line lost their job and union as a result of a contract flip.

The Ministry of Labour released the full report of recommendations on August 31, 2018.

The Service Employees International Union, Local 2 represents 16,000 workers across Canada including over 10,000 workers in the janitorial sector. The goals of SEIU’s Justice for Janitors campaign is to organize janitors across a city or market, so together, workers can raise standards in the cleaning sector and reverse the race to the bottom.

For more information, please visit www.justiceforjanitors.ca

Contact:

Nicole Veitch 604-364-8132

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