Demonstration of Outaouais Public Sector WorkersClose to a hundred public sector workers in the Outaouais region demonstrated Saturday, November 14 in the streets of Gatineau and in front of the Gatineau Hospital as part of actions organized across Quebec organized by the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN). These are health and social services workers, education workers as well as government agency workers who are presently negotiating the renewal of their collective agreements.
It also points out that the main reason given by the government to justify today's confinement measures is the weakened response capacity of the health system, greatly diminished by the cutbacks and austerity measures of the last decades. The CSN states: "M. Legault has said it on many occasions: we have entered this crisis with a weakened system and that is why he has had to, during these months, make decisions which, in turn, have had an impact on the whole of Quebec, with numerous breaches of services in health and social services and the cancelling of surgical interventions and aftercare. In the education system, where human and financial resources have been stretched to the limit for months on end, there are alarming signs of overall exhaustion. There is also the suspension of commercial activities and the impacts this has on our economy." Demonstrators reiterated that the staff shortages can only be resolved by improving the working conditions, beginning with lightening the workload which had become unbearable and which is decimating essential workers, especially in this period of pandemic. They also denounced the ministerial ruling which allows, among other things, regional employers to impose full-time work on part-time workers, against their will. (Quotations translated from original French by Workers' Forum. Photo: FIQ)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The main demand presented by the CSN in these
actions is for major investments in the public system, among other
things, by investing in the necessary resources to meet the needs of
the workers in the field. "Our public services have been falling apart
for some time. Now we can see the extent of the damage and how the
population as a
whole is suffering from this", says a statement by the CSN.