Quebec health-care union again denounces cuts, warns of ‘cumulative effect’

A CSN flag is raised during a strike on Thursday 1 August 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

With just a few days to go before the budget is tabled, the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN) wants to make sure that its elected representatives hear its demands for an end to cuts in the health-care network.

Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard will table the budget for the 2025-2026 financial year next Tuesday.

At a rally of FSSS-CSN workers outside the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) on Wednesday, union president Caroline Senneville once again called on the government to put an end to the $1.5 billion in cuts demanded by Santé Québec.

“It’s the budget in a week’s time, and I think it’s worth repeating because these cuts have a cumulative effect,” she said.

The CSN president acknowledged that the economic situation was difficult at the moment, but she expected the government to make “budgetary choices for public services,”

Senneville also pointed the finger at “all the talk about the private sector, which seems to be the solution for some people.”

She also offered her views on private health care.

“Privatization, we can never say it enough, at some point we will reach a point of no return ... We must not give money to people who are going to take odds, to people who are going to take a profit margin on our health, we must stop that immediately,” she argued.

Senneville also said she was in favour of a parliamentary commission on the role of the private sector in health care. “It’s high time we had a discussion,” she said.

On Monday, Health Minister Christian Dubé said he was open to a public consultation on the private sector in health care. He made it clear, however, that he was not the only one to make the decision.

Anick Mailhot, president of the Syndicat des employés du Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (SECHUM), pointed out at Wednesday’s rally that the CHUM was in the midst of its third wave of cuts since the autumn of 2024, saying “117 direct patient care positions have been cut. This is having a major impact on the quality of patient care, and it’s having a major impact on the workers who have been cut.”

“For the time being, the employer could not guarantee us that there would be no further cuts,” she said.

“We have people with 20 years' seniority, who have been in their department for more than 10 years, who find themselves parachuted in somewhere else with a new team. We’re changing disciplines, we’re changing workplaces, and it’s very difficult for the employees,” Mailhot said.

She spoke of the impact of the job cuts on patients, in particular patients who spent 30 to 40 minutes on the toilet because they were unable to get up unaided.

“This is unacceptable,” said the union president. She also gave the example of tray collection, which may seem trivial, but when it is not done on time, an overload builds up in the kitchens and meal distribution can be delayed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 19, 2025.