Legault Government Wants "Flexibility" to Continue Privatizing and Destroying Public Services
Montreal, November 23, 2023
On the morning of November 23, the day 570,000 public service workers in Quebec went on strike, Premier François Legault said at a press briefing that he was prepared to improve the wage offer on condition that the unions agreed to more "flexibility" in working conditions. He said that "this is the only way we'll be able to improve services to the population."
Health and education workers have already pointed out that talk of "flexibility" or "organization of work" without increasing the resources required to meet needs simply means continuing to squeeze the lemon by various means. They point out that with this particular notion of "flexibility," which is not a new "demand" but a practice that has led to untenable situations for the service providers, decisions are made from above and the experience of those on the ground is discarded.
What the government means by "flexibility" and "work
organization," noted Julie Bouchard, President of the
Interprofessional Health
Federation of Quebec (FIQ) "is more harmful than
anything else." For proof, she said, one need only look at the
results
this has created in a government pilot project in
Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec. "There, the government has
already put in place a taste of what it wants for all of
Quebec: to
move care professionals without regard for their experience and
expertise," says the FIQ in a press release. "The result:
hundreds of
resignations. Then they come along and say that the organization
of
work is the government's priority during these negotiations. ...
This
will only increase the exodus we're already experiencing in the
network
and decrease safe patient care," says the FIQ president.
Health Minister Lets the Cat Out of the Bag
In a press briefing on November 23, Health Minister Christian Dubé said out loud what his government was thinking with its demand for "flexibility." He said, "There really needs to be a change of approach" on the issue of work organization. "We need to change the right to unionize to a personal right," he said. "Our staff must have the choice to do what they want to do when they want to do it." If they want to work twelve-hour shifts, "they must be able to do so" and not "be blocked by the union," he said.
Legault claims he wants flexibility to "improve services to the population," but the truth comes out of the mouth of his Health Minister, who said: "Even if we gave them everything they want and still had the same work organization, I'm not able to implement my health plan" (our emphasis). He is referring to Bill 15, An Act to make the health and social services system more effective, which provides for a health reform that will facilitate the privatization of health system decision-making in Quebec. With this reform, the government establishes a new chain of command which concentrates decision-making and administrative power in the hands of the ministry along with a hand-picked Board of Directors made up of CEOs from private industry to head a new agency called Santé Québec.[1]
If the Legault government wanted to improve services to the population, it would break with the anti-social offensive pursued by all Quebec governments for the past fifty years, which has led to the deplorable state of public services we know today. Instead, it would recognize the need to increase investments in social programs that are essential to the future development of a modern Quebec. And it would stop the ongoing reforms whose essential aim is to concentrate decision-making power in the hands of the governments of the wealthy, to the detriment of the rights of workers and the people in general.
Note
1. "Massive Concentration of Decision-Making Power and Union-Busting," Pierre Chénier, Workers' Forum, May 25, 2023.
(Quotations translated from the original French by TML.)
This article was published in
Number 60
- December 3, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10602.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca