(Montreal) The Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN), which represents 3,500 paramedics in Quebec, is requesting the intervention of a conciliator in the negotiation of their collective agreement, which expired on 1er April 2020.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Updated at 1:19 p.m.
Claiming to be at an “impasse” in its talks with the government, the FSSS-CSN contacted the Ministry of Labor on Friday to have a conciliator appointed to try to bring the parties closer together.
Due to the pandemic that hit in March 2020, negotiations were put on hold for several months. The parties discussed the normative clauses first, but the monetary issues were not addressed until late summer 2021.
Then, just before the holiday season, the negotiators attempted a “blitz” in the hope of reaching an agreement in principle before Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, these one-on-one efforts, without a negotiating committee, failed. This is what leads the union to believe that the process is now facing an impasse.
“We asked to resume as a large group after the holidays and then there is radio silence, [le gouvernement] don’t call us back, ”shared the representative of the pre-hospital sector of the FSSS-CSN, Jean Gagnon, in an interview with The Canadian Press.
In addition, the union has strike mandates “to be used at the appropriate time”, can we read in a press release published on Saturday morning.
In this same press release, Jean Gagnon deplores that “government representatives are closing the door” to the union’s proposals “on almost all issues”. He says that paramedics are lagging far behind public security and health network actors.
In an interview, he admits that the union is demanding “a substantial salary increase” in addition to asking for a reclassification of the level of remuneration related to the position of paramedic. An improvement that would at the same time allow better recruitment and improve the retention of the workforce.
Among the other demands of the paramedics, we want to reduce the work overload of the personnel, eliminate shift schedules and improve health and safety conditions in the workplace.
With regard to strike mandates, obviously the ambulance services must continue to operate at all times to ensure the safety of the population. However, the paramedics deployed certain pressure tactics, including offering all ambulance transport free of charge. That is to say that regardless of the reason for their intervention or the patient’s condition, the bill is entirely passed on to the government.
In addition, paramedics are beginning to refuse to perform certain tasks, such as returning to their point of origin health workers who board ambulances during patient transports. They also refuse to enter hospital emergency rooms and climb hospital floors.
If the attempt to negotiate in conciliation does not work, the union plans to push its means of pressure further by asking the court to modify the parameters of essential services to force management personnel to participate in the strike effort.
“At that time, we could have paramedics striking on a picket line and it would be managers who would replace them,” suggested Mr. Gagnon.