Unions decry arrival of Sante Quebec, APTS demonstrates

About 100 members of the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) chanted “Santé Québec, it's not a gift” as they demonstrated outside the offices of the new agency in Montreal on Monday morning.

The arrival of Santé Québec, which is now responsible for coordinating the operations of the health-care network, has sparked discontent among the major union organisations.

The protesters denounced the establishment of the new government corporation, which was made official on Sunday. APTS members wrote down their wishes for the health-care network — starting with the desire that it remain public — on wrapped Christmas presents.

Speaking on behalf of all the city's sectors, APTS national representative for the North Island of Montreal, Sabrina Caty, read out some of these requests, including decentralising the network, respecting workers' autonomy and better valuing the profession.

“We want our employers to be human. We’re tired of useless bureaucracy, we want to be able to provide human services and have our expertise recognised,” Caty read from the back of a gift box.

A few moments later, a member dressed as the Grinch destroyed the presents by throwing them in the air and trampling them underfoot.

The APTS believes that the provincial government is “turning a deaf ear to the wishes of workers in the health and social services network.”

Caty gave a speech that seemed to motivate her troops, who at times shouted encouragement and at others booed comments quoting Geneviève Biron, the president and CEO of Santé Québec.

“Ms Biron calls it administrative integration. That's a funny word for ‘scrapping’ the network once again with a useless reform,” Caty told the demonstrators.

For their part, the Fédération de la santé du Québec (FSQ-CSQ) and the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) launched an advertisement campaign showing their dissatisfaction.

They say Santé Québec will have little positive impact on public care, unlike the cuts and hiring freeze imposed by Quebec.

The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) is calling it “chaos foretold.” The union believes the creation of the agency is accompanied by a “cloud of uncertainty” and “improvisation” when it comes to budget cuts.

Santé Québec is now the sole employer of 330,000 workers in the health-care network. It will coordinate the operations of Quebec's health-care network and be responsible for attracting and retaining staff.

In an open letter published last weekend, Biron acknowledged that transforming the health-care network “will realistically take a few years.”

However, she assured it is “possible to do better,” in particular by improving mobility, eliminating redundancy, and sharing tools and best practices more effectively.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 2, 2024.