March 26, 2021

Determined to show that maintaining Order 007 is a catalyst for the labour shortage in the health network, healthcare professionals are demonstrating their frustration and denouncing the suspension of their working conditions which has lasted for 365 days. In front of the hôpital du Suroît in Montérégie-Ouest and hôpital de Saint-Jérôme in the Laurentians, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec–FIQ conducted two simultaneous mobilization actions, one of which was attended by the president of the FIQ, Nancy Bédard, and the local presidents Julie Daignault and Mélanie Gignac. In front of healthcare professionals gathered to make their voices heard, they took the floor to denounce the abuse of power exercised by the managers of the institutions, demand vacations and demonstrate the devastating effects of Order 007 on mass resignations in the network..

“The government can no longer be trusted. There are almost no cases of COVID-19 in the entire CISSS, yet there is still a blanket application of the measures in Order 007. Minister Dubé guaranteed us that activities would be gradually resumed to give healthcare professionals a break, but the opposite is happening. In Montérégie-Ouest, our institution is currently lacking  50% of the healthcare professionals, yet activities continue without the employer evaluating the situation. Over the last year, more than 300 healthcare professionals have left the institution. When you give services without the necessary staff, you inevitably put everyone at risk and the consequences can be serious. Where is the institution’s PED? What is he doing to find solutions?”

Mélanie Gignac, présidente, syndicat des professionnelles en soins, Montérégie-Ouest

“The healthcare professionals are exhausted, they want a break and that we stop moving them from one centre of activities to another without considering their expertise, or work-family balance. It has been 365 days that they are asked to be reasonable; who can continue to work in such terrible conditions, without respect? The compelling accounts of healthcare professionals demanding the repeal of the Order must be heard! Despite the employer’s commitments, we are still waiting for concrete actions.”

Julie Daignault, President, Syndicat des professionnelles en soins des Laurentides

“The FIQ will not give up. morceau. It is not true that we will continue to tolerate such a repressive method of management that mainly attacks women. The government deliberately frightens the population by invoking breakdowns in service. However, this is not a new possibility because the shortage existed long before the pandemic. Negotiated and satisfactory solutions have always been found to avoid service disruptions. The government has never invoked the need to suspend the collective agreement. But the abuse has been going on for a year. There is no longer any reason for the government to refuse the outstretched hand. It is time to repair the damage.”

Nancy Bédard, President, Fédération interprofessionnelles de la santé du Québec-FIQ

The symbolic actions are aimed at reminding and illustrating that the number of healthcare professionals who have left the network to save their skin is constantly increasing, and to remind the government what a real collective agreement looks like.