Montreal Union Leader Explains
At the time the working conditions of nurses at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (MRH) had reached a new low in January, Workers' Forum spoke with Denis Cloutier, President of the Union of Health Care Professionals for Montreal East (SPS-ETIM), about the situation.
Contrary to Health Minister Christian Dubé's assertion that the workers and management are at cross purposes and the matter is merely one of scheduling, Cloutier explained that the workers do not have any communication problems with management, Montreal East's Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS). "The Minister appointed a conciliator and we, along with general management, met with her. She quickly realized that we are able to talk to each other. However, there was no Ministry representative at the meeting. Yet the issue is at the Ministry level.
"The problem is that we don't have enough staff in the emergency room," he added. "If you don't have enough people, juggling schedules isn't going to solve the problem. Besides, the shortage is hitting us particularly hard. We cover a very large territory that serves a constantly growing population. MRH is one of the key hospitals covering such a large population and territory. The hospitals that are part of our CIUSSS are obsolete. Some environments are more attractive than others. Just think of the Montreal University Hospital Centre (CHUM) which is brand new, air-conditioned, directly connected to the metro. Maisonneuve-Rosement is an old hospital without ventilation and poorly served by public transportation. There are a lot of factors that contribute to our being short-staffed. Attracting people to a hospital like ours is difficult. Additional incentives must be put in place to attract employees to such settings. There needs to be the political will to sort out the problem but we don't see it. The problem cannot be solved at the local level, as we don't have the budget to do that.
"Our nurses care about their patients," he concluded. "They are grappling with their conscience and feeling that they are unable to provide quality care. The Minister must take up his responsibilities to ensure that the workforce is well distributed so that health care is provided to all throughout Quebec's territory."
In a recent interview, Cloutier summarized the developments that have taken place since the nurses' action.
He said that MRH continues to receive about 25 per cent fewer ambulances than it normally does. The conciliator is in discussion with CIUSSS management and the union so that steps are taken internally to alleviate the situation. Nurses from other institutions have come to assist in the emergency room, and the union is very grateful to them for having volunteered. Some came for one shift, others for more. It has not yet been determined how long these reinforcements will last.
He added that some of the hospital's emergency nurses have left the department to work in other institutions, as their situation was untenable.
"In addition to the fact that we are understaffed in the ER, with only 30 per cent of the night shifts and 50 per cent of the evening shifts being staffed, we have lost expertise, including losing the ER triage nurse," he said. "You have to have worked in the ER for a long time to be in triage. The situation there remains extremely fragile and precarious."
With regard to the union's requests that the situation be corrected, he said: "We have taken some steps in terms of work time arrangements, offering nurses work schedules such as seven days on, possibly with overtime, followed by seven days off, so that they have seven days to recover. However, the Ministry has not responded favourably to our requests for incentives to attract nurses. It's not that we believe that money can solve everything, but there are places where it is more difficult to draw in staff, such as at our CIUSSS hospitals in the Laurentians, in Montérégie, in Nord-du-Québec. There are outdated hospitals that are unable to attract staff, with services being maintained through mandatory overtime. The government seems to fear that if they provide incentives, that we'll use this in our national bargaining to offer them to everyone."
The Quebec government has given no sign that it intends to take up its responsibilities and improve wages and working conditions, and especially to implement the solutions put forward by health care workers. The example of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital shows how the government is using the argument of decentralization and local management to avoid its responsibility and force workers to fend for themselves while it dictates conditions that make life unbearable for staff and destroy services. As far as the offers it has made for the renewal of collective agreements in the public sector are concerned, they're insulting and will only increase the problem of attraction and retention and they show a refusal to negotiate with those who provide the services.
Nurses, like all public sector workers, have firmly rejected these offers and put forward concrete demands in defence of their rights and of services.
(Quotations translated from original French by Workers' Forum.)
This article was published in
Number 2 - February 7, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10022.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca