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6 of Pontiac’s 7 imagery technicians apply for work elsewhere

6 of Pontiac’s 7 imagery technicians apply for work elsewhere

30 July 2024 à 9:53 am

Updated on 5 August 2024 à 12:38 pm

The Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS) announced on Thursday, July 25, that 8 of the 12 imagery technicians from the Shawville, Wakefield and Maniwaki hospitals have obtained positions in the Gatineau Hospital and that their departure was scheduled for September 9. The APTS representative for the Outaouais region, Christine Prégent, told CHIP 101.9 in a French-language interview that all the technicians who decided to go to work in Gatineau had given the disparity between bonuses as  the reason for their departure.

Christine Prégant: “Yes, in fact, after the job posting, there was still a negotiation operation that expanded the bonuses that still allowed the Pontiac, Maniwaki, and Wakefield to have a lump sum of $18,000 and despite that, because it still persists in inequity with the urban environment, which they received a lump sum of $22,000. Despite everything, people sent us emails, called us to tell us that their indignation was maintained but that they will still intend on September 9 to go and occupy the positions they obtained.”

After hearing the news that the 8 technicians had obtained positions in Gatineau, the APTS organized an emergency meeting with Deputy Minister of Health Richard Deschamps to try to explain the situation, in the hope of offering the $22,000 bonuses to all Hospitals of Outaouais.

Christine Prégant: “What is important for us in this meeting was to come up with factual information to show how things are going in the Outaouais, the level of staff, the vacancies, the overtime which is quite impressive for each of our members. So, we painted a very accurate portrait of our region. What we really want to be able to eliminate the problem that was created at the very first draft of the bonuses. It was important for us to remind people of the issue in the Outaouais these border reality that we have with Ontario, but after the implementation of the first bonuses, a problem that we didn’t need was created by generating a kind of internal competitions in the Outaouais. Deschamps was open to the meeting and listened to all the issues. He is engaged and  committed to taking this information and reporting it to the ministry. So for us its still satisfying. We needed to feel listening and now obviously the ball is in their court. We expect that we will be able to have a call again and resolve the situation.”

The APTS hopes to be able to reach an agreement with the Quebec government quickly so that it can convince some of the technicians to stay at their current jobs. In the event that an agreement is not reached and the technicians leave to work in Gatineau on September 9, many service disruptions are to be expected for the Pontiac Hospital which now finds itself with only 1 technician, Maniwaki which finds itself with 1.4 technicians (1 full-time and 1 part-time) and the Wakefield Hospital which also finds itself with 1 technician. Prégent reveals what awaits the health system if the 8 technicians leave in September.

Christine Prégant: “Each time that we spoke with the government, we made projections, we described to them the situation and the risks if there were to be disparities in the measurements. Despite everything, we came up against a certain closure by telling us that they did not have a mandate to be able to go further, hence the importance for us to meet Mr. Deschamps this week because what we want is to finally start the mandates that meet the needs of the Outaouais and that we stop diverting attention that should in fact be turning to our border reality by creating internal disparities.”

The situation is also expected to worsen for Gatineau Hospitals, since without access to hospitals on the outskirts, people from the rest of the Outaouais will now have to travel to the city to access health services, which will result in overcrowding in emergency rooms.

The (French-language) interview with Christine Prégent is available here.

Author

Suzie Labine



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