Jewish General Hospital - Major cuts against a background of corruption

MONTRÉAL, Nov. 14, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The Jewish General Hospital in Montréal must reduce this year's budget by almost $16 million – the largest cut in the Montréal area. It exceeds the cuts imposed on some larger CSSSs that include several institutions.

"While the UPAC investigates a vast corruption scheme at the Jewish General Hospital, the Liberal government is nevertheless making workers foot the bill, even though they have nothing to do with the misappropriation of funds," said CSN vice-president Jean Lacharité. Yet it would be worth pausing and taking the time to analyse the impact of misappropriations by former managers on the institution's budget problems. It would be scandalous for the Liberals' austerity measures to wind up paying for misappropriations and inflated invoices resulting from mismanagement.

The Syndicat des travailleuses et des travailleurs de l'Hôpital général juif Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital (CSN) estimates that a total of close to 200 positions have been abolished in the hospital as a whole so far this year. Of these, 23 were in the kitchens. "For two weeks, trays were transported from the kitchens by nurses or beneficiary attendants who are already overworked," explained Sylvain Brunelle, president of the local CSN union. He added that the runs of housekeeping personnel have been extended, leaving the hospital less clean and vulnerable to an increased presence of microbial pathogens.

"The merger of the Jewish Genera Hospital into a gigantic CISSS will create a first-class administrative headache that will inevitably affect services to the population," added Jeff Begley, president of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS–CSN). The institutions to be grouped together in a single administrative structure won't even have mutually compatible software. As well, the hundreds of positions that will be eliminated will set off vast movements of personnel throughout the new structure, destabilizing and demoralizing employees for months and even years.

About
Founded in 1921, the CSN is a union organization that works for a democratic, just, equitable and sustainable society of solidarity. As such, it participates in various debates of interest to Québec society. It is composed of almost 2,000 unions and has more than 325,000 workers organized by sector or occupation in 8 federations, and regionally in 13 central councils, mainly within the territory of Québec.

SOURCE: Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN)

Thierry Larivière, CSN Communications Department, Cell phone: [phone]; office: 514 598-2159,[e-mail]