Obligation to work in a radius of 200 km: the exhaustion of the orderlies could get any worse

Photo courtesy
The clerk to the beneficiaries of Saint-Jérôme Karine Lehoux with his colleague Walter Jean-Marie are part of the employees who report exhaustion with photos on Facebook.

Hugo Duchaine

Friday, 2 march 2018, 01:00

UPDATE
Friday, 2 march 2018, 01:00

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As if their working conditions weren’t already difficult enough, orderlies denounce that their employer would require them to work on-call in a radius of over 200 km.

The Journal has learned that this application has been referred to by the Centre intégré de santé et des services sociaux (CISSS) in the Laurentians in the local negotiations with the union.

Thus, an employee of Saint-Eustache to part-time could receive a call that morning to go to work in Mont-Laurier, 2 h 30 of road. Sanctions would be imposed on those who refuse. A request hubris that will lead more employees to exhaustion, according to the union.

The attendants would then be a bit like substitute teachers, who are going to school in school in school board. However, four school boards, different cover the territory of the CISSS of the Laurentians.

A first

“After 17 years [part-time] I thought I would improve my lot, but I don’t think it is what my employer is now offering me” says the attendant to the beneficiaries Karine Lehoux, Saint-Jérôme.

Marie-Claude Ouellet, who is seated at the table of negotiations, said that the CISSS does not limit the employee to a facility. During a meeting on 24 January, she asked if the employer wanted to move its employees in the territory, and ” the response of the spokesperson for the employers was “yes”, she adds.

However, the spokesperson of the CISSS of the Laurentians, Myriam Sabourin, ensures that it is “not at all” a question of requiring employees to travel from Saint-Eustache to Mont-Laurier.

It emphasizes, however, that the CISSS would like to increase the mobility of staff to meet more easily their work shift. “Geographical areas” are being considered, she said.

The Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS), which represents these workers says that this is the first time she sees such a request. These local negotiations are the first since the creation of the CISSS by the reform Module. Other regions would also have the same demands for its employees, according to a vice-president of the FSSS, Josée Marcotte.

“It’s just going to make things worse, rather than improve them “, laments Ms. Marcotte. According to it, in the current climate where nurses and clerks exhausted denounce their working conditions, employers should rather consider giving “oxygen” to its workers.

For her part, Karine Lehoux notes that it will consider his future if the proposals employers became a reality. The single mother says that it would be impossible to reconcile work and family if she received a call in the morning, obliging him to go to work 200 km from her home.

As an attendant part-time, she is already working in more of a CHSLD according to the needs, but all in the city of Saint-Jérôme.

In addition, the union also indicates that to overcome the lack of staff and the needs urgent, the employer would also like to turn part-time positions. So, rather than work on a number of fixed days, the employee is guaranteed a number of hours per year. An attendant could then end up working 12 days in a row and not work again for three months.

In this regard, the spokesman of the CISSS he did not wish to comment on each of the discussion at the negotiating table, but stressed that there was ” no concern “.

The minister of Health, Gaétan Barrette, has refused to comment on the local negotiations between the CISSS and their employees.

Tests for nurses

Pilot projects to reduce the ratio of patients that a nurse will soon be tempted by the government.

“This advance “, said the president of the Federation interprofessional of the health (FIQ), Nancy Bédard, yesterday, after a third meeting with the minister of Health, Gaétan Barrette.

The exhaustion of the nurses, who have been many to denounce this winter, has led to the holding of these appointments between the nurses union and the minister to find solutions.

Ms. Bedard also believes that the professional “will see the light at the end of the tunnel quickly” if the government’s commitments to be realized.

Three weeks

Within three weeks, the locations of the pilot projects will be decided, as well as the ratios proposed.

Currently, a nurse in a CHSLD can have 50 to 100 patients to its load during a work shift, according to the FIQ.

If the new ratios demonstrate that the patients receive the best care and provide a better climate for nurses, the minister Barrette could consider more hires.