Numerous pitfalls for transfers to Santé Québec

With the appointment in the coming days of its first president and CEO, the new Santé Québec agency is officially taking shape.

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé has promised to make the announcement by the end of April.

Between 700 and 800 current employees of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) will move in the coming months to leave the public service and go to work under the leadership of Santé Québec, in the parapublic sector.

The agency will then become the sole employer of the 375,000 workers in Quebec’s public health network, instead of the current 34 public employers.

This personnel transfer will take place in September for unionized employees, while the first wave of moves set for June 17 will only involve managers.

At the beginning of February, the Union of Professionals of the Government of Quebec (SPGQ) revealed data from an internal survey where only 8% of MSSS unionized professionals planned to volunteer for the transfer to Santé Québec.

Half of the increases

But more than a month and a half later, employees’ fears are still strong.

“We cannot avoid planning these massive personnel movements without doing it correctly. And this is just a first step. If we rush things, we face much bigger problems,” said the president of the SPGQ, Guillaume Bouvrette, in an interview with Soleil.

Mr. Bouvrette gives the example of a financial management agent who is transferred to a position where the highest salary level is $10,000 lower.

The lady will keep her current salary, being out of step, but will see the salary increases planned over the next few years reduced by half, until the highest step of her new position at Santé Québec catches up with the one where she was. already at the MSSS.

“This will have a huge impact on his remuneration and his retirement plan,” underlines his union president. Which confirms that this person has started looking for another job in the public service.

If public service employees obtain an increase of 17.4% over five years in their future collective agreement, as was the case for those of the Common Front at the Holidays, the lady in question would therefore only be entitled to 8 .7% increase over five years.

7 departures out of 15

In the financial monitoring sector of the MSSS, a team which had 15 employees recently lost seven, also cites Mr. Bouvrette. Those who remained have been working overload ever since.

Certain unionized positions with a bonus of 10 to 15%, known as those of greater complexity, will be transferred to executive advisor positions, in order to offer them a comparable salary. But they could at the same time move to executive status, which would subsequently prevent them from benefiting from a right of return to the public service as is the case for their unionized colleagues.

On top of that, the union denounces the fact that the government is still unable to provide it with a list of names of people affected by the transfer. It is therefore impossible to obtain a precise portrait of the situation and thus inform and reassure its members as many request.

“We still use the expression ‘we build the plane in mid-flight’, but in this case, it’s a space shuttle. It’s so complex! So, we need time,” indicated the president of the SPGQ.

“And we will soon appoint a CEO, a board of directors and managers. These people will need qualified, expert professional staff to support them in setting up this huge agency,” summarizes Mr. Bouvrette.

It is possible that at the end of the transfer process, the SPGQ will lose its 500 MSSS members who will be integrated into the new Santé Québec agency.