Tulattavik health workers will quit if benefits don’t improve: union

Members of the union representing health care technicians and professionals at Kuujjuaq’s Tulattavik hospital, the Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs du centre de santé Tulattavik de l’Ungava, want the same kinds of benefits that nurses who work in Nunavik receive. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Negotiations over benefits could hurt services in Nunavik’s hospitals, says Jacqueline Bernier, who heads the union that represents lab and radiology technicians, physiotherapists, social workers, psychologists and administrative technicians in Nunavik’s Ungava region.

If their demands for better benefits aren’t met, many could quit or leave Nunavik, Bernier said.

“People are exhausted, they’re going on sick leave or even on holidays, and there’s no one to replace them,” she said. “I think we provide good care right now, but we’re really trying to maintain those services.”

Tulattavik’s technicians and professionals signed a five-year collective agreement in April 2010, although $25 million budgeted in that agreement hasn’t been allocated yet.

Union members want to see that money paid out to them as a signing bonus and retention premium, similar to the $14,000 to $17,000 annual premium which Tulattavik’s nurses receive.

Bernier said members wouldn’t likely get as high a bonus as nurses do, while the retention premium would depend on a worker’s years on the job.

The union has been in meetings for the past eight months with Quebec’s department of health, which wants that money allotted to administrative measures and human resources staff evaluations, she said.

“There are a lot of people who don’t stay because there are better working conditions in the South,” Bernier said. “We need people to come to work who have experience in what they do.”

Bernier points out that it’s not an issue specific to southern workers either — local Nunavimmiut also stand to benefit from the premium.

More than 50 members of the union demonstrated outside of the Tulattavik health centre March 15 to draw attention to their demands, while a similar event was held in front of the Montreal office of Quebec’s health and social services minister, Yves Bolduc.

The union, affiliated with Quebec’s CSN (Confédération des syndicats nationaux), met with provincial health officials earlier this week, with both sides preparing to make recommendations on how to spend the $25 million over five years.

For almost 12 years, the union has demanded attraction and retention measures for its technicians and professionals, not only for workers who serve Nunavik’s Ungava coast (Tulattavik), but also those who serve the Hudson Bay coast (via Inuulitsivik hospital in Puvirnituq) as well as in parts of the James Bay Cree territory.

The CSN argues that a premium is needed to help fill health and social service positions in those regions, 30 per cent of which it says are currently vacant.