Posted by The government eases health and safety regulations but forces vaccination.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, this government has miraculously passed for “competent” in managing the pandemic. And yet!
We remember that in April 2020, the Legault Arruda tandem was not content to refuse N-95 masks to health care employees, but they went so far as to advise against wearing a procedure mask because it would encourage people to put their fingers on their face…. And that would be worse!
As early as April 1, 2020 our union called for regular testing of all health care workers to prevent contamination on the job and instead the government suspended the enforcement of collective agreements to give bosses permission to move untested and possibly infected employees around as they pleased. Many outbreaks within our institutions are due to this governmental amateurism.
Then the government fought for one (1) year to deny the contamination in aerosol mode, and this, not to have to provide N-95 masks. It took the CSN an epic battle before the Labour Court to have it recognized that the virus is transmitted by aerosol and for our members to have access to N-95 masks.
How many workers and patients have been infected by aerosol transmission within our health care institutions because of the irresponsible stubbornness of the Legault-Arruda tandem?
And now, as inconsistent and illogical as ever, the government is abolishing the “red, yellow and green” zones in hospitals and CHSLDs, but claims to be acting responsibly by forcing employees to be vaccinated or risk being sent home without pay.
Marjolaine Aubé, president of the CSN Laval union, explained on 98.5 FM that since the abolition of the zones, a cardiac patient has been separated by a curtain from a COVID+ patient in the Cité de la Santé hospital emergency room. What is the logic of allowing such things and forcing vaccination of employees if patients are allowed to contaminate each other?
To hear the 20 minute interview with Marjolaine Aubé, click on the following link .
We are for vaccination, but there are other solutions besides forced vaccination. The government could have decided to force the unvaccinated to take a saliva test every day and force them to wear an N-95 mask, that would have been more useful than causing resignations and job losses in a sector whose lack of personnel is constantly deplored.
It is not its sense of responsibility that the government is demonstrating at this time, but its ignorance of the difficulties of the network, because it is not only the possible resignations that are at stake here, but what will be the working atmosphere with the forced vaccination?
The work atmosphere… another thing that really does not need further deterioration.
In closing, we attach the brief that the CSN has filed on the issue of mandatory vaccination.