The PPP projects at the CHUM and the MUHC must be stopped! CSN unions are
asking for public hospitals, as soon as possible!

MONTREAL , Sept. 16 /CNW Telbec/ - While the government finally appears to be changing its tune regarding the supposedly miraculous benefits of PPPs, at the CHUM and MUHC university hospitals, PPP projects have quietly moved ahead. Today, September 16 , the McGill University Health Centre administration has scheduled an internal presentation of the technical plans proposed by the two private consortia competing for the PPP for the Glen site construction. These plans were submitted in August.

In response, the CSN has organized actions to inform its members, to take place in front of all eleven sites of the two largest university hospitals in Quebec . In all, 10,000 members of the CSN work at the CHUM and the MUHC.

    
    It is urgent that we put a stop to these PPPs, which are wasting time and
    money...
    

On the MUHC's Mountain site, work is beginning in concrete terms, in the traditional mode, while on the MUHC's Glen site, which is on the PPP model, we are still buried under mountains of red tape and the project remains shrouded in secrecy.

Yes it is! MUHC administrators themselves say that at present, about 30% of the PPP project has been defined. And the other 70%? It will all be decided behind closed doors... The contracts aren't being made public and it's impossible to verify their contents. Will there be privatized services? Will maintenance be awarded to private enterprise? What about food services? Will all medical and clinical functions be the responsibility of the MUHC or of an affiliated private clinic?

At the CHUM, even though the PPP project is not as advanced, it's just as vague. Employees, users, and citizens have been left completely in the dark.

PPPs, an outdated trend

This summer, the government came to its senses and reclaimed public control of reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange. One of the reasons given by Minister Julie Boulet ? PPP mode doesn't guarantee enough versatility or flexibility... All the same, it's ironic that when it comes to university hospitals, which are complex and required to make considerable changes over time, the government is so slow to see the light. At the CSN, there's concern that at the CHUM and the MUHC, contract management and the profit margin to private partners are major impediments to technological and scientific development.

The jewels of state-of-the-art medicine in Quebec should not become test cases for an outmoded ideology. The PPP model has been abandoned all over the world, especially in times of economic crisis.

The CSN also wants to preserve public sector expertise and jobs. That's why the battle against privatization of any kind will be among the demands made by workers during the next public sector negotiations, which get underway this fall.

Speaking today were:

    
    - Pierre Daoust, President of the Syndicat des employé(e)s du centre
      hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal-CSN;
    - Olga Giancristofaro, President of the McGill University Health Centre
      Employees' Union-CSN;
    - Francine Lévesque, President of the Fédération de la santé et des
      services sociaux-CSN;
    - Dr. Marie-Claude Goulet, spokesperson for Médecins québécois pour le
      régime public;
    - Gaétan Châteauneuf, President of the Conseil central de Montréal-CSN;
    - Louis Roy, CSN Vice-President.
    

The Confédération des syndicats nationaux has 300,000 members, which includes close to 125,000 members of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux.

For further information: Sylvie Joly, CSN Public Sector, [phone]