Analysis of Bill No. 10 on the use of private agencies in health and social services
Quebec, March 15, 2023 — The Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL), along with its affiliated health-sector unions, CPAS-SCFP and SQEES-298, denounces the waste of public funds which, rather than enriching private agencies in the health and social services sectors, should instead be used to better structure public services and improve working conditions for employees.
Before the parliamentary committee studying Bill No. 10 on the use of labour agencies in the health and social services sector, the QFL and its affiliates expressed concern about the growing reliance on private health agencies, which has gradually become an easy and unimaginative management approach for network administrators.
“Budget cuts, structural reforms, workplace organization issues, and poor working conditions — all of these largely explain the problems we are facing today. What the government is asking for with Bill No. 10 is a blank cheque, since we have no indication of the terms of the regulations that will be adopted. The devil is in the details, as the saying goes,” said QFL President Magali Picard.
A study by the Provincial Council of Social Affairs (CPAS-SCFP), affiliated with the QFL, on the amounts spent reveals that more than $3.7 billion in our taxes and public funds were spent by CIUSSS and CISSS on private staffing agencies between 2016 and 2022.
Of this amount, more than $1.9 billion was spent on orderlies and other para-technical job categories, and $1.3 billion on nursing staff.
“It is high time to put an end to this blatant waste of money and reinvest in our public services. If workers are leaving the public network, it is mainly because of poor working conditions and compensation, as has already been stated by Health Minister Christian Dubé and Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel. This must be resolved once and for all,” stated CPAS-SCFP President Maxime Ste-Marie and SQEES-298 President Sylvie Nelson.
“In health care, we are also increasingly observing the use of private staffing agencies in remote regions. This workforce, with no attachment or interest in the population being served, arrives and leaves quickly, intensifying the fly-in fly-out phenomenon. We need a bit of ambition and should aim for zero use of these agencies instead of enriching unnecessary intermediaries,” concluded QFL President Magali Picard.
The QFL, the largest labour federation in Quebec, represents more than 600,000 workers.
Translated into English by SEU800 from the original French-language press release.