Interviews with Delegates at Quebec Federation of Labour Convention
Sylvie Thomassin, President, Private Seniors' Residences Division, Quebec Union of Service Employees
In this issue, Workers' Forum continues its coverage of the 33rd Convention of the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ), held from January 16 to 19 under the theme "The FTQ in the Lead --
The Future of the Trade Union Movement," with interviews conducted with various delegates. For prior coverage, see Workers' Forum, March 13, 2023 - No. 12.
Below is an interview with Sylvie Thomassin, who works in a Chartwell Group Home.
For those of us working in private seniors' residences (RPAs), one very serious problem is the lack of personnel and of listening on the government's part. We are currently fighting to get a ruling from the government that provides basic standards in term of working conditions for everyone working in RPAs. [Called a collective agreement ruling, such a ruling extends a collective agreement reached in one workplace to all workplaces in a sector, in terms of the working conditions, whether the workers are unionized or not -- WF Ed. Note.] In May, the employer came to see us at the union because, in certain trades, we had lost our government bonuses. They came to see the union to have our wage scale readjusted, which was an improvement at that time, but is still far from the conditions that exist in the public sector, even though our people are just as qualified. Our nurses have the same diplomas, our attendants have taken the same courses. Our cooks are certified. We have maintenance people who have been there for many years.
We made a request for such a government ruling. Our leaders went to the government with a collective agreement that had been signed in one of our residences and the government told us that we were asking too much. We are asking for too much, supposedly, when what we are asking for is to be paid the same as those in the public sector because we are doing the same job. We are taking care of the generation that built Quebec. We're not taking care of stray dogs on the street, although they are treated better than we are.
I had the opportunity to speak to Chartwell's president and he asked me what it would take for us to improve our conditions. I told him that there had been a breakthrough last May when Chartwell readjusted the pay scales, but that there is still a long way to go. I told him that as an employer, Chartwell is unattractive. We have no drug prescription coverage, no pension fund, no benefits. You can't sort out the staffing shortage with those conditions.
The employer is trying to attract personnel while at the same time, in the name of staff optimization, is cutting the hours of our kitchen helpers. The union executive, of which I am the president, was met with. Right off the bat, Chartwell's human resources manager said they were thinking of cutting my position. What a way to start the day! The general manager of the residence where I work came to my defence because his is the only Chartwell facility with five cooks on staff. He saved my job but they cut the kitchen helpers' hours. I am left alone at my workstation without a cook's helper. Chartwell doesn't show us any respect.
Yet during the pandemic -- just like in the public sector -- we held our residences together. I saw co-workers fall in the battle three or four times because of COVID. We continue to have outbreaks. I still have co-workers who become ill because they have contracted COVID. We have to keep on insisting with the employer that we are in an outbreak and that they have to put these people on the Labour Standards, Pay Equity and Workplace Health and Safety Board (CNESST). They want to send my members home for 10 days without paying them. Who are they to send my members home without pay?
We need a ruling that establishes decent basic conditions in all RPAs. The government needs to wake up, get these big private residence owners to sit down, and the government has to take responsibility for our conditions.
Chartwell is the largest private residence owner in Quebec and in Canada. They renovated the reception hall at our home. They have money to improve the building, but we have to keep fighting so that their employees, who are there full time and keep the residence going against all odds, are given decent wages. Three-quarters of our members work below the poverty line. We have cases where a woman, who is a single parent, has the difficult choice between paying her rent and feeding her children. What kind of choice is that? In 2023! I have dishwashers working for minimum wage. Unionized dishwashers!
We have an employer who doesn't care about their workers. They think about their shareholders before they think about the people on the floor running their residences.
I still love my job, I still love what I do. I've been fighting for RPAs and my people in RPAs for seven years, and will continue to do so for as long as I keep breathing.
(Translated from the original French by Workers' Forum.)
This article was published in
Number 13 - March 15, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10131.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca