Employees of the Philippe Pinel Institute for Forensic Psychiatry demonstrated Thursday afternoon for better working conditions, putting an end to the brain drain.
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The report reads as follows: More than 150 workers have left in the past two years, which the union attributes to poor working conditions, particularly in terms of training, equipment and pay.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) proposed introducing a 10 percent employee retention bonus, which the employer side rejected.
Remember that the collective agreement expires at the end of March.
Olivier Turcotte, intervention officer, said he feared for his safety.
He gives an example of a situation he has experienced to illustrate the reasons for employee dissatisfaction.
In an emergency, “the patient is waiting for us with everything they have in their room,” he says. Broken CDs, pencils”.
“We don’t have an anti-spike jacket, we have absolutely nothing, he laments, so we go in with the shield if the situation allows us, if we have time. If it’s too urgent, we have to go back to the room immediately.”
“I got hit in the head a few times,” he recalls.
In the denunciation, too, he adds that “we don’t listen to the employer.”
Marie-Ève Desormeaux, sociotherapist and president of the union, denounces the situation.
“Our patients are prisoners. When they arrive here, they are escorted by prison guards in an armored truck. They have anti-spike jackets, they have that “weapons”they are fully equipped. […] and we welcome them with our blue shirts and our latex gloves. It’s the same patient,” she said.
It states that “working elsewhere is more profitable and less dangerous”.
“The National Philippe Pinel Institute of Forensic Psychiatry (INPLPP), like other entities in the health and social services network, is currently affected by a major labor shortage. In addition, a committee was established in September 2021 to deal with ISPS matters and is composed of members of the management board and ISPS. The West question was dealt with within the framework of this committee. After a rigorous analysis, the vests were selected and we began the acquisition process,” the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry told Philippe-Pinel via email Thursday at the end of the day.