The Legault government is implementing a hiring freeze for flying teams supposed to help the health network in remote regions, says the FSSS-CSN. Quebec denies this assertion and instead says it is a victim of its success.
“Yesterday afternoon, our employer announced to us the hiring freeze and the freeze on the deployment of people who are not yet deployed,” explains Julien Houle, president of the Union of Workers of the CISSS de la Montérégie Center – CSN .
His organization represents beneficiary attendants who are sent particularly to the North Shore and Abitibi-Témiscamingue to lend a hand to hospitals and CHSLDs facing a labor shortage.
At Sainte-Justine Hospital, where the public flying team nurses come from, a similar discussion took place with the union.
After noticing that there were no longer any job offers on the government website dedicated to the flying team, Élisabeth Gagnon-Tremblay contacted the employer. “He told me that, for the moment, he could not hire,” says the president of the Union of Nursing and Cardiorespiratory Care Professionals at CHU Sainte-Justine-CSN.
Quebec denies
After the publication of a press release to denounce the situation, the Minister of Health published a message on the X platform to deny any hiring freeze within the flying teams.
“We want to be flexible and the flying teams are moving in this direction,” writes Christian Dubé.
On the side of the Santé Québec agency, we assure that we have all the necessary applications in hand, while also denying the imposition of a freeze.
“We currently have a large number of potential applications in our systems, with over a hundred under assessment. External postings will gradually resume when new applications are required,” says its spokesperson, Jean Nicolas Aubé.
As for the assertion that people ready to leave would not have been deployed, he explains that the needs of the establishment which was to accommodate them have changed. “This has impacted the deployment of some members of the public flying team. We are working to reassign them,” he explains.
Credibility
But these explanations do not satisfy the president of the Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN).
“On the North Shore, there are only 38 nurses deployed. We are told that this is not enough,” notes Réjean Leclerc.
Especially since these positions are, by definition, temporary. “What’s going to happen, when people leave, if there are no new people coming forward? It’s a hiring freeze,” he said.
The decision comes at a time when Quebec is seeking to replenish a historic deficit of $11 billion, but also just before negotiations with the unions to perpetuate the flying teams, which are currently operating thanks to a provisional agreement.
Réjean Leclerc admits not knowing which of these two reasons could motivate Quebec to proceed with a hiring freeze.
One thing is certain, the president of the FSSS-CSN does not pay much attention to denials from Quebec. “The credibility of the CAQ is no longer worth much,” he says.
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