Health care workers to be compensated for Gordon Campbell's contract-breaking legislation

More than 7,000 health-care workers will receive an average $9,500 each before Christmas as compensation for being laid off after the B.C. government contracted out their jobs.

The payments are part of a $75-million settlement negotiated among the government and health unions after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down key sections of Bill 29 in June 2007, saying they violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The bill, known as the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act, allowed the government to arbitrarily break union agreements and contract out union jobs without consulting union representatives. More than 9,000 health care workers were laid off as a result of the legislation.