The president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) – one of the largest public service unions in Quebec – believes that the government of François Legault must react to deal with the problems of the public network linked to “decades of neglect but that the debate must include “civil society”.
” Whether [le premier ministre François Legault] is placed in a logic of dialogue and discussion and of finding solutions together, we are going to participate in it, “said Caroline Senneville, president of the CSN, in an interview with The Press SATURDAY.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
CSN President, Caroline Senneville
Recall that Mr. Legault said on Friday that he wanted to make significant changes in the management of the two largest public networks in Quebec, namely health and education, in the context of a long interview granted to The Press.
Quebec intends in particular to give itself more powers in the management of the school network, dissatisfied with the decisions made by the school service centers. He wants to appoint – and if necessary dismiss – their general managers as he does with the CEOs of CISSS and CIUSSS.
On the side of the health network, physician managers in hospitals could lose some of their powers to the benefit of CEOs and general managers, also indicated Mr. Legault. And the boards of directors of the CISSSs and CIUSSSs are at the center of a major questioning.
Not the first to face the network
François Legault is not the first to want to make significant changes in governance within these public networks, recalls Caroline Senneville.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Francois Legault
“All health governance, we have been denouncing the way it was done under the Liberal government for a good decade with the famous reform [de l’ex-ministre de la Santé, Gaétan] Barrette, she illustrates. Before, in the network, there were representatives of civil society, unions and patients, and that gave the pulse of what was happening on the ground. »
Mme Senneville also recognizes the great difficulties facing the public network, where bad news constantly makes the headlines. “There are people dying in the hallways, young people who should have been investigated by the DPJ and who did not go there, schools where there is no ventilation , of a hospital which holds with the spindle, of which one is obliged to close the emergency because a pipe is closing, ”she lists.
In his view, the government must “see further than the next election” to deal with these problems which result from “decades of neglect in the public sector”.
“But we must include civil society in these debates,” said the president.
Present in the field
The unions are also eyes and ears on the ground to make recommendations to the government, argues the president.
“It must be three negotiations that we appear before the government saying: such a year, there will be a shortage of such trades, she cites as an example. For 4-year-old kindergarten, we came to the parliamentary committee and we said: in the current physical state of the schools, there is no room, and in addition there is a lack of staff. Three years later, the Minister of Education must face the facts. So we too are on the ground, we have solutions and we are just waiting for that: to present them. »
In the process, she says that the CSN will not necessarily oppose François Legault. “We have the important missions of the State at heart: public services. For all the solutions that are promising, we will not be adversaries. »
“I think we can achieve the same objectives by having a more positive discourse,” she sums up.
Prime Minister François Legault did not want to discuss the issue during a brief appearance in front of journalists, on the occasion of the funeral of the former Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie Nadine Girault in Laval on Saturday.
With Tommy Chouinard, The Press