Benoît Taillefer, Vice-President, Occupational Health and Safety, Workers' Union of the Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre, Montreal North Workers Forum: In your
opinion, what are the main issues at the moment with the pandemic
crisis that is raging in the health care system, and particularly
strongly in the residential and long-term care centres (CHSLDs)? Benoît Taillefer: There are several problems. There is the problem of bureaucracy at the administrative level. Since we became an Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS), our operation has become a huge bureaucracy with a huge administration. There is a general director and an assistant director to manage the 26 sites that are part of our CIUSSS, including five hospitals. That's way too big. When I started working in the health care sector, there was one general director per institution. It was easier to manage. It was the Liberals, the Charest government in 2005, and the Couillard government and its Health Minister Gaétan Barrette in 2015, who decided to implement and then continue their reform that created giant institutions, saying there would be more communication and care corridors. All that may be true on paper, but in practice the results are the opposite. Our CIUSS is too big to manage. There is too much administration and too much bureaucracy. When you ask questions of the people responsible often you don't get answers or the answers are inadequate. The person in charge tells you they don't know what the answer is and the bureaucracy is such that often they don't go and get the answer and come back to you to get the problem fixed.
For example, in our CIUSSS we have military personnel who are helping us out. I have no objection to that. They are not care attendants, they are military personnel. Now, our people who are experienced, specialized, who work in hot zones [where people are infected with COVID-19], are being told to go work in cold zones [areas free of infection], and this within the same shift. That is something that should never be done. They are being replaced by military personnel who have no experience and who are being sent to work in the hot zones. This is very incoherent. The only circumstance in which this would be acceptable is in a situation where there is a breakdown in services, an area where there are no attendants and we absolutely have to find someone. On one shift you're supposed to stay where you are. We try to keep people from moving to prevent the virus from spreading. When I raised this problem with the responsible authorities the answer was that it is not a serious problem, or they are not aware of it. The second major problem is the lack of preparation,
particularly the lack of personal protective equipment [PPE]. We don't have
enough. We knew that one day we would face a pandemic, but nothing was
organized for a possible pandemic, to ensure the necessary reserves. I
am a care attendant and I know that we have to build up reserves in our
equipment. The neo-liberal bureaucracies did not plan things properly.
So we have a lot of outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities.
There are CHSLDs in our CIUSSS where dozens of residents have died. Our CIUSSS has one of the highest number of deaths. We had a death of a worker in one of our CHSLDs. A 41-year-old worker, very dedicated, very much appreciated by her colleagues. We are calling for an inquiry into her death. She had developed the symptoms of COVID-19, had been removed from work for this, and died the day she was to undergo a second test for COVID. We have a very strong suspicion that she died from COVID-19. The way to stop the pandemic is to make sure that the safety rules are followed. We have to implement the public health guidelines properly. There must be no lack of personal protective equipment. We must regain the upper hand in the CHSLDs. We must make sure that when a person dies there is complete disinfection of the room before another person is admitted. Basic disinfection of all CHSLDs must be ensured. This is difficult because there are so many people waiting to come to the CHSLDs. We have to come up with solutions that we haven't thought of yet. Could residents wear masks, not all the time, but when there is interaction between a staff member and the resident? We can already hear the answer; that there are not enough masks. In my opinion, if the political will is there these problems can be solved. WF: Do you want to add something in conclusion? BT: I think that if there's something
positive that has come out of this crisis it's that the workers -- who
work without public recognition, who are underpaid, undervalued, on the
front lines risking their lives -- have been brought to the forefront.
They must be valued in monetary terms, of course, but not only in
monetary terms. They must have good working conditions and
psychological recognition as well. We have to recognize the occupations
which are at the bottom of the ladder, such as care attendants. It is also important to speak out publicly about what is going on. This is a public health crisis. There is pressure from employers to silence us. We cannot be silenced. We are the first responders. We have to get things done for our people who are at risk and for the public. Of course, we have to be objective, we have to look for solutions. The public needs to know what is happening in the sector.
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The
other problem that comes with bureaucracy is the lack of communication
between the various bodies, especially between the union and
management. The pandemic has been going on for two months, and I'm not
looking for somebody to blame for the crisis, I'm looking for
solutions, but we don't get answers to very basic questions.