2023-05-24 15:39:43
(Montreal) It is the turn of the FIQ to request mediation in the negotiation of its collective agreement with the government of Quebec.
Last Thursday, the inter-union common front, made up of the CSQ, the CSN, the FTQ and the APTS, had done the same, thus presaging an intensification of the mobilization of its 420,000 members.
The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé (FIQ), which represents 80,000 nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, explains that it in turn asked for mediation in the face of “the little progress at the negotiating table” with Quebec.
The FIQ filed its demands on November 7. The Government of Quebec presented its offers on December 15.
“It took several months before we could get more negotiation dates from the government. And today, unfortunately, it is clear that the work is not progressing quickly enough to quickly meet the needs of healthcare professionals and, more broadly, those of the public health network,” said Jérôme Rousseau, vice- president of the FIQ and political co-responsible for the negotiations.
The demands of the FIQ, in addition to salary increases, pertain, for example, to the adoption of a law to obtain safe healthcare professional/patient ratios, as well as the adoption of a mechanism to gradually eliminate the recourse to labor from private employment agencies.
The FIQ also asks to specify in the collective agreement that the use of overtime must be voluntary, and not compulsory, except in urgent situations, and that it must not constitute a systematic practice to make up for absences.
The FIQ is also asking for a fifth week of vacation before 10 years of service and a sixth before 15 years of service.
Other requests relate to the posting of timetables, retirement, regional disparities.
“Through this request, we want to bring about progress and be able to focus on solutions that will promote the attraction and retention of healthcare professionals in the healthcare network. Hurry up ! Every day, healthcare professionals leave the network and the present negotiations are essential to stem this hemorrhage,” concluded Mr. Rousseau and Nathalie Levesque, also vice-president and policy co-responsible for the negotiations at the FIQ.
For her part, the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, has repeatedly stated that she wants to reach a fair and equitable settlement, and as quickly as possible, with all the unions in the public and parapublic sectors.
Last week, she said she was ready to speed up the pace of negotiations and to negotiate during the summer, if necessary, to reach agreements with the unions.
The collective agreements in the public and parapublic sectors expired on March 31.
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