Chris Lowrey
SHAWVILLE Feb. 19, 2018
Just inside the front doors of the Shawville Hospital, support staff were handing out donuts and sheets of paper on which staff could write their frustrations with their employer.
The event was organized by the salarié-es du Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs de la santé et des services sociaux de l’Outaouais CSN (STTSSSO-CSN), the union representing healthcare support workers.
The support staff in Shawville joined their counterparts from around the Outaouais to protest poor working conditions and chronic understaffing.
“People are getting tired,” said STTSSSO-CSN secretary treasurer Isabelle Paul.
Many of the support staff wrote messages on their placards to the higher-ups in the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), including “I am not a machine,” and “I’m not made of steel.”
The demonstration in Shawville was staged at the same time as a symbolic sit-in by staff at the Hull Hospital in Gatineau.
This represents yet another group of employees who are voicing their dissatisfaction with CISSSO.
In recent months, nurses have also been very vocal about the lack of relief staff and excessive amount of overtime hours that now seem to be normal.
The support staff at the hospital do everything from assisting patients going to the washroom, cleaning and bathing patients and helping patients get exercise.
“We’re the closest to the patients,” said Paul.
Many support staff say that they are being worked to the point of exhaustion. To compound matters, if the staff members take a sick day, it just increases the workload of their co-workers.
In many cases, staff are coming to work sick in order to ease the burden on their co-workers.
Staff are also concerned that by showing up to work sick, they could put patients at further risk.
“Patients are suffering,” said STTSSSO-CSN Vice President Michelle Bourgoin.
Paul also pointed to the ongoing negotiations between her union and CISSSO and some of the changes being made to support staff collective bargaining agreements.
For example, she said there is a proposal to change the amount of notice required for changing an employee’s shift from one week to 24 hours.
Those in attendance also said that more demonstrations will be taking place in the coming weeks at CLSCs and CSHLDs.
