Interview
Urgent Need to Improve Wages and Working Conditions of Seniors' Residences Employees
- Sylvie Thomassin, Union Delegate, Quebec Union
of Service Employees-FTQ -
Strike days at Seniors' Private Residences in
Quebec, November 2019.
Workers' Forum: Workers in seniors'
residences, public and private, are fighting for immediate and urgent
improvements in their working conditions. You work at the Manoir et
Cours de l'Atrium, a private seniors' residence. Can you tell us about
these conditions?
Sylvie Thomassin: Our situation is
particularly difficult at the moment because we are short of staff. We
have to deal with this every day because we do not have many regular
employees. We deal with agencies to get workers and have to adapt to
the people they send to us. We have a work routine. When the workers
from the
agencies arrive at our institutions they do not know how they work.
Practically every day we have to do training to show them how we
operate in the residence. This creates extra work and also extra
stress, because at the wages the agencies are paying, the people they
recruit frequently do not show up for work. So it's more work that has
to be
done by our members.
Owners of private residences have difficulty recruiting
a regular workforce. All goes well until it comes to the question of
wages. The moment we come to the question of wages, people who would be
interested in coming to work with us give up. We try to make the
employer understand that the wages are not competitive, that's why they
have
trouble getting people. The employer persists in saying that we are in
a labour shortage, without wanting to get to the bottom of the problem.
We have dishwashers who make as little as $13 an hour. We do not have a
pension plan and have no health insurance, no drug insurance.
We work for a company that is listed on the stock
exchange, Chartwell, one of the biggest players in private residences
for seniors. Chartwell makes millions every year. We take care of the
people from whom they are making money. At the Manoir et Cours de
l'Atrium the cheapest apartment costs about $3,000 a month. Our
residence has
680 apartments. It is the largest private residence for seniors in
Quebec.
Yet at the bargaining table, the employer says it has no
money to give to the employees to keep them in its establishments.
Meanwhile, Chartwell private residences continue to open. The company
already has difficulty putting staff in the existing residences yet is
opening new ones. What kind of service will the people get at these
residences?
Our wages are much lower than in the public sector. Our
nurses work double shifts too. In our residence, we are currently
experiencing an outbreak of gastroenteritis. Our dining room waitstaff
are delivering meals on the floors because one of the dining rooms has
been closed. It is a huge increase in the work load. The employer asks
us to do
this and we do it, but we are offered nothing in return. It's pure
exploitation. It is normal for our people to think of going to work
elsewhere.
In its advertising, Chartwell speaks about the
well-being of older people, but does not provide the staff needed to
actually do so. I went back to school at age 50 to get a cooking degree
to gain advancement. I have not been paid much more for this. The
employer is asking for skills qualifications but does not want to pay
for qualifications.
We are not currently in negotiations, but we support
those who are. Some are staging one-day strikes at this time. Employees
are demanding a wage of $15 at the time of hiring and a minimum
increase of $1 per hour each year for the duration of the agreement. We
will be negotiating next fall.
Something also has to be done at the government level.
The government needs to step in and make employers understand that they
have to sit down at the bargaining table, raise the wages, listen to
the unions and the members they represent, who have legitimate demands.
The Quebec Union of Service Employees (SQEES) and the
whole Quebec Federation of Labour are also demanding that the Legault
government introduce a collective agreement decree to improve the lot
of those who work in seniors' residences. This decree would set the
minimum conditions of employment that all employers in the sector
must respect.
WF: Is there anything you would like to add in conclusion?
ST: I hope that the people will support
our demands and our actions because it is important. We must keep in
mind that we too will one day find ourselves in these residences. We
must not allow conditions to deteriorate as is happening now. We must
respect the dignity of the elderly. They need stability. Anything can
destabilize them. When you're old, you're vulnerable. Seniors need to
be cared for by people who also have stability in their working
conditions. We do not get recognition for the work we do and that must
change.
This article was published in
Number 30 - December 11, 2019
Article Link:
Interview: Urgent Need to Improve Wages and Working Conditions of Seniors' Residences Employees >
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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