Good Samaritan Society Southgate care center preps for layoffs

The Good Samaritan Society’s Southgate care center is preparing for layoffs after a December announcement that Alberta Health Services will cut funding to long-term care beds. A move that AUPE vice president Susan Slade hopes the UCP will take action to reverse.

Slade says that “we’re calling on the UCP to immediately reverse this and allow AHS to fund those beds. We can’t one day have a press conference saying how we’re improving health care and in the background, there’s 76 long-term care beds being taken out of the system.”

AHS was funding 226 long-term care beds at the Southgate facility. A covid outbreak in 2020 led to the temporary closure of some beds in semi-private rooms.

In December 2022, AHS made the temporary closures permanent and announced they would only fund 149 beds. The bed reductions – now set to result in a loss of jobs – 44 positions will be on the chopping block as of March 30. Many remaining positions also face a reduction of hours.

Slade added “nobody knows what hours they’re gonna be working, what line they’re gonna be working, that will take place in the coming weeks. So it’s a lot of extra stress. You’re going from a full-time position to some that are being taken to almost half-time.”

The announcement has furthered tensions between the AUPE and the Good Samaritan Society. The union has filed a bargaining in bad faith complaint, claiming that the good samaritan society has canceled all upcoming negotiations and are advertising an on-site career fair in early March, weeks before layoffs will take effect.

“It’s absolutely shameful. These workers worked through terrible conditions, all throughout the pandemic and not just at Southgate, at every Good Samaritan facility. They’re already working totally short. And then the employer continues to delay their bargaining, and then, on top of everything, has a job fair scheduled. The disrespect that good sam has shown the workers is atrocious,” said Slade

In a statement to CityNews, the Good Samaritan Society says, “the funding reduction took effect on Dec. 1, 2022. As a result, we need to reduce staffing in clinical and non-clinical roles. We will maintain the current staffing at Southgate until march 30 to allow for a smooth transition.

“We do not make these decisions lightly and have weighed all options. Maintaining the current staffing numbers in light of the reduced funding is not possible. Good Samaritan Society is working closely with the unions on this process and we will follow the layoff and recall procedures outlined in the respective collective agreements.”