(Montreal) Health unions are perplexed by the information that has leaked about the reform that Minister Christian Dubé is to table in the coming days creating his Health Quebec agency.
The daily La Presse reported, in its Monday edition, of a negotiation of collective agreements which would be more centralized, of a management of the network which would also be more centralized and of differentiated wages according to regions and shifts.
Several health unions were reluctant to comment on Monday, preferring to wait to see the bill itself.
The president of the CSN, Caroline Senneville, finds it “difficult to follow” the reasoning of the Legault government, which finds on the one hand that the reform of Liberal Minister Gaétan Barrette has centralized the network too much and which, on the other hand, wants further centralize the management of the network and the negotiation of collective agreements.
With regard to differentiated wages, she recalls that it is the unions themselves who have negotiated in their collective agreements bonuses for evening and night shifts, as well as remoteness bonuses.
Still, this possible reform will constitute “another upheaval in the health system”, while “the network is exhausted”, argues Ms. Senneville. She wonders aloud if “it’s going to be worth it”.
