The Union asks the SAAQ to avoid travel

The Union asks the SAAQ to avoid travel

The Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ) is asking the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) to enforce the public health demand to avoid non-essential travel between regions. Union members who work in SAAQ service centers note that learner drivers travel between cities and even regions to take driving tests. However, the regional president for the Outaouais of the SFPQ, Michel Girard, pointed out that even if the government of Quebec asks all citizens to avoid as much as possible from moving from one region to another or from city to city, the SAAQ has not always applied this rule.

“The staff in charge of evaluations for driver’s licenses has regularly observed, for several months now, that citizens make appointments from Montreal or St-Hyacinthe to come to Mont-Laurier or Gatineau because the wait time is less long. However, people who live in a region with maximum alert, the red zone, should especially avoid moving to a green, yellow or orange zone. The SAAQ must issue directives to refuse to serve citizens who move outside their zone. In addition, due to the high number of requests and the accumulated delays caused by the closing of the offices, the SAAQ should add staff to the service centers which are saturated, ”claims Michel Girard, regional president of the SFPQ.

This is not the first time that the SFPQ has intervened. Recently, Michel Girard had informed CHIP 101.9 that an employee of the Quebec public service, had travelled between the Vallée-de-la-Gatineau and Campbell’s Bay.