150 APAJH employees in Creuse warn of the deterioration in the reception of disabled people

“In 20 years at APAJH in Creuse, 30 years for some of my colleagues, I have never seen such mobilization, that says a lot” assures a demonstrator. 150 people gathered Thursday, November 14 in front of the APAJH headquarters in Creuse, in Guéret to denounce the working conditions and reception of people with disabilities within the association's structures. The trigger: a new work organization set up at the APAJH nursing home in Gentiouxstaff working hours are reduced during the day (hours are spread over more days) to align with the sector's collective agreement. Gold, “there should have been hiring to compensate, but there were almost none” says Stéphanie, AES (educational and social support worker) at the Gentioux center. Result: “We often find ourselves alone or in pairs, for groups of eight residents. So we can no longer provide individualized support, and some patients have anxiety which can push them to become violent if we do not support them correctly. It generates violence towards staff and other residents…” regrets this accompanist.

“It lacks everything” regrets the mother of a resident with a disability

A deterioration in reception conditions that families also feel. Maggie came to support the striking staff and testify. His 48-year-old daughter has been staying at the Gentioux home for 25 years. She states: “It becomes abuse.” This mother explains: “It lacks everything. A person who is clean, we put a diaper on her at night and say 'she just has to do in it'. Even food, there is no longer a cook so they eat a lot of canned goods. It's been ten years since things deteriorated but here we are waiting for the best of the best” says the retiree who adds: “I don't live far away so I go there regularly and often I notice that there is only one guide for a whole group. They can't be everywhere! My daughter is not independent, so often it's her bed, her armchair in front of the TV, and that's it. There are almost no more exits.“

Several staff representatives and employees were received by management this Thursday. Patrick Colo, president of APAJH in Creuse, says he wants to rectify the problems caused by the new organization. The long-term objective is to recruit in order to have more staff on the schedules and therefore better supervision. Patrick Colo, on the other hand, admits to having the greatest difficulty in “recruit kitchen staff, especially in remote areas like Gentioux“. “As for the diaper problem, we have not reduced the night staff, so we need to collectively ask questions about that with the teams.“, he specifies in response to Maggie's testimony.

The loss of a bonus of 100 euros

Beyond the degraded reception conditions, employees also denounce poorer salary conditions. The new schedule put in place results in the loss of a bonus of around 100 euros intended to compensate for working extended hours and weekends. “With this new schedule, we have shorter days, but more spread out over the year so we have to come 38 days more. Plus, before we worked two weekends out of five, now it's one weekend out of two. And we lose the bonus, it's a total lack of consideration when we haven't had a real increase for years outside of Ségur” regrets Nathalie, instructor-educator in Gentioux. “We knew that there was going to be a new organization but it had to be prepared with the staff via working groups and ultimately it was imposed like that“explains another employee from the center of Sud-Creuse.

“Conditions are deteriorating everywhere”

Among the 150 demonstrators, there were employees who came from other APAJH centers in the department, to support their colleagues from Gentioux, but also to denounce a situation which they believe is deteriorating overall in Creuse. In Guéret, an employee points out for example the bedbug problem that has been going on since last spring “and we dare to accuse us of not taking care of hygiene“. She also mentions the reception conditions: “The residents are in rooms of 8m², and share 3 toilets of 10, when they close… We are promised work which does not happen“.

“I don't want to stigmatize the staff. There is sincerity in what they say. Our duty is to dig deeper and take action“, recognizes Patrick Colo, the president of the APAJH in Creuse.