Workers upset over switch to disposable linens

Laundry workers at a plant in Saint John are upset over a proposal by Horizon Health Network to use disposable linens and scrubs in the region's operating rooms.

The organization is looking at switching from the reusable stock it now uses to disposable.

About 363,000 kilograms of operating room linen go through Horizon Health Network's plant each year.

The plant washes and sterilizes everything from surgical gowns, to patient drapes, to wrappers for instruments then returns the items to hospitals across the region.  

 If the health authority goes ahead with the decision to use disposable linens, Giselle St. Pierre, President of CUPE Local 2291, said many of the 57 full-time staff at Fundy Linen would be threatened.  

"There's going to be a loss of jobs here. Nineteen full time positions here, and six or seven in Fredericton as well. That's a loss to our local economy," St. Pierre said.

She also said washing, sterilizing and reusing linens is much better, environmentally speaking, than sending it all to the dump.

"The impact on the landfill from going from a reusable product to a disposable product doesn't make a lot of sense, because we are environmentally conscious," St. Pierre said.  

"One surgeon gown that we provide the hospital would represent 80 disposable that would end up in the landfill."  

The union has been staging protests for a few months, ever since it learned a proposal had been sent to the government. Horizon Health is refusing to comment on the matter. 

In an email, a spokesperson indicated they are looking at all possible impacts of the move.  

Dr. Neil Manson, an Orthopedic Surgeon in Saint John, said one advantage could be saving money.  

"The bottom line is it's going to come down to cost. Technology has obviously changed, so the disposable group feels they can give us equal technology at a marked savings, and that's probably what's going to drive decision making now," Manson said.  

The New Brunswick government said it has received the proposal, but no decision has been made.

A spokesperson with the Health department wouldn't say at what stage the proposal is at, or when a decision is expected.