This text is part of the special booklet 33rd congress of the FTQ
With a dizzying unemployment rate of 13% and inflation reaching 12%, Quebec in the early 1980s was in very bad shape. At the same time, the Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ) had to react to the massive job losses, and the human tragedies hidden behind it. Thus were born the social delegates, true guardian angels within companies.
Louis Laberge, president of the FTQ at that time, affirmed that the executives and the union delegates are the arms of the organization to defend the rights of the workers, and the heart is symbolized by the social delegates. Since their creation in 1983, they have never ceased to prove their relevance, taking on a growing role, facing different realities from those which occupied them in the past. From help in writing a résumé to support in countering alcoholism, these sentinels of feeling now juggle multiple addictions, not to mention the growing ailments within the workplace itself.
40 years of union support
On February 14 and 15, in Saint-Hyacinthe, the National Conference of Social Delegates will celebrate 40 years of good and loyal service, a time of celebration, but also of reflection, on their role and their place: among the workers, but also before the employers, and even within the local unions. This privileged moment, organized every five years, will open with the inspiring words of Lorraine Deschênes and retired judge Michael Sheehan, two important figures in suicide prevention.
This anniversary will also be an opportunity to demystify a responsibility yet to be defined, even within the unions affiliated with the FTQ, “because each environment finds its own way of doing things so that the social delegate can work in the best possible conditions”, points out François Ouellet, union advisor at the FTQ in the occupational health and safety department. Within a large organization or a small company, “they can give a faster response to their peers who need to be listened to, supported”, specifies the one who is also a technical adviser to the network of social delegates.
How do we recognize them? The lucky ones have an office (for interviews in complete confidentiality), their importance appears in the collective agreement and they have the right to be released from their work to accomplish this mission. Louise Grenier, social delegate since 1985 and coordinator at the Regional Council of Metropolitan Montreal, acts both as an ambassador and as a trainer. Hired as a telephone operator at Bell Canada in 1977, she has seen transformations in the world of work, and not always positive ones. She who dreams of a “network known and recognized by everyone”, not a week goes by without her and her colleagues having to face very current problems (cyberdependency, domestic violence, suicides). “We often talk about physical injuries, but when it comes to mental health, you have to understand that it’s the head and the heart that bleed. »
An essential service
Forty years later, we know how much the presence of social delegates can change things. Mélanie Dufour-Poirier, a professor of labor relations at the Université de Montréal, demonstrated this… and benefited from their services. While devoting a large part of her research to their role, including that of “appease the workplace”, she discovered an even more important facet when her spouse and father of her son died.
“It allowed me not to fall more, because I received help quickly, including that of Louise Grenier,” recalls Mélanie Dufour-Poirier. All of this painful experience, including a return to work where the uneasiness among some colleagues was palpable, reinforced the researcher’s convictions that it was necessary to question what is wrong in the world of employment. “Why is work a source of suffering, alienation and psychological distress? The pandemic is not the only cause, because currently, it is the exacerbation of already existing problems. »
To appease them, there is no miracle solution, rather a set of actions, according to Mélanie Dufour-Poirier: “Mental health at work must become an issue for mobilization and negotiation, and the whole union community would benefit from making it a priority. . In several companies, social representatives are vectors of social justice, and outside the traditional channels. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, relating to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.
This special content was produced by Le Devoir’s special publications team, reporting to marketing. The editorial staff of Le Devoir did not take part.