Health and Social Service groups slam Quebec budget

increasing with the austerity of recent years. The government is increasingly ignoring its responsibilities on the backs of agencies, particularly to the detriment of the people who work there.

In a communiqué issued Tuesday, the Estrie ROC strongly reiterates that it is high time that community health and social services organizations receive financial support commensurate with the expertise, achievements and critical role they play in daily life. The underfunding experienced by these organizations in the Estrie for far too many years is blatant and imposes very difficult working conditions. "How can we help people when we are constantly seeking funding? How can we not exhaust ourselves when working in precarious conditions to support all those who knock on the doors of organizations?" asks ROC Director Claudelle Cyr.

In the Estrie, 64 per cent of workers in the health and social services community do not have any social protection, and do not benefit from group insurance. Their average salary is about $30,400 per year. For the directorates, it is somewhat higher than $40,000. "This is all the more deplorable because they are qualified, qualified and competent people! The passion for work and the cause certainly does not justify being underpaid," Cyr says.

The group considers it essential to maintain a quality social safety net that is accessible to all. This would undoubtedly result from a financial upgrading of the community health and social services organizations and the recognition, at its true value, of the work they do. Otherwise, we will have to fight poverty in a setting that is working to eliminate it in the community.

The ROC de l’estrie brings together more than 100 independent health and social services community action groups in the Estrie region.