Unions decry arrival of Santé Québec: APTS to demonstrate Monday

About 100 members of the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) chanted “Santé Québec is not a gift” as they demonstrated in front of the offices of the new Santé Québec agency on Monday morning in Montreal.

The arrival of Santé Québec, which is now responsible for coordinating the operations of the health network, is causing discontent among major union organizations.

Monday’s mobilization aimed to denounce the implementation of the new government corporation that was made official on Sunday.

“And today, on the first day, where are we? Well, the plane is still being built in mid-flight,” said Sabrina Caty, APTS national representative for the area north of Montreal.

In the form of Christmas gifts, APTS members wrote down their wishes for the health network, starting with the wish that it remain public. Speaking on behalf of all sectors of the city, Caty read some of these requests, including decentralizing the network, respecting workers’ autonomy and better promoting the profession.

“We want our employers to be human. Enough with the bureaucracy and useless paperwork, we want to be able to provide human services and have our expertise recognized,” Caty read from the back of a gift box.

A few moments after listing her members’ wishes, the APTS staged the famous Grinch character who came to ruin Christmas presents by throwing them in the air and trampling them.

The APTS believes that the Legault government “is turning a deaf ear to the wishes of workers in the health and social services network.”

Caty gave a speech that seemed to motivate her troops, who sometimes shouted encouragement, sometimes booed remarks quoting Geneviève Biron, the CEO of Santé Québec.

“Biron calls this administrative integration. It’s still a funny word to say ‘scrapping’ the network once again with a useless reform,” Caty told the demonstrators.

The APTS strongly criticized the $1.5 billion in cuts recently announced by the government.

“This is a record effort that is being asked of a network that is already at the end of its rope. While needs are increasing, we are asking institutions, CISSSs and CIUSSSs to reduce, cut and freeze. And as if that were not enough, this extreme centralization makes Santé Québec a disconnected structure where decisions are really made far from the ground, without consulting workers,” denounced Caty.

For their part, the Fédération de la santé du Québec (FSQ-CSQ) and the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) have chosen to demonstrate their reluctance by launching an advertising campaign.

In their opinion, the arrival of Santé Québec will have little impact on public care, unlike the cutbacks and hiring freeze imposed by Québec.

At the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), they are talking about “foretold chaos.” The CSN believes the birth of the agency is accompanied by a “cloud of uncertainty” and “improvisation” in a context of budget cuts.

Santé Québec is now the sole employer of 330,000 workers in the health network. It will have to coordinate the operations of the Quebec health network, including surgeries, emergencies and budgets, in addition to being responsible for attracting and retaining staff.

Health Minister Christian Dubé reiterated last Friday that he would remain accountable “for results to Quebecers.” He emphasized on X that Santé Québec is one of the 50 measures in his health plan “that aims to separate operations from orientations, as many experts have recommended over the years.”

In an open letter published last weekend, Biron acknowledged that the transformation of the health network “will realistically take a few years.”

However, she assured that it is “possible to do better,” particularly by gaining mobility, eliminating duplication in tasks, and sharing tools and best practices even more effectively.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews