To finally put an end to the compulsory overtime imposed on nurses, which is equivalent to “forced labor”, prohibited by world conventions, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) has filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva.
This is the first step of its kind for the FIQ, declared its president, Julie Bouchard, in an interview.
It is done because all other means have been used, including thousands of grievances, without this “abusive” practice and this “unacceptable” management method ceasing, explained the president.
The FIQ, which brings together several unions, is asking the Committee of Experts for the Application of Conventions to examine the case of some 76,000 nurses and other professionals it represents, such as respiratory therapists.
These pay the price for a “well-established practice in the Network” — “tolerated and even favored by the government,” says the FIQ — namely the systematic recourse to “compulsory overtime”.
Instead of being an exceptional measure for emergencies, compulsory overtime is used as a common and customary way of managing the workforce, even when staffing needs are “forecast and/or foreseeable”, can we read in the complaint of which The duty got a copy.
The nurses have repeatedly publicly denounced the OSI, and challenged the Quebec government, in particular through the “national days without OSI” which were held last October.
Despite their protests, it has become even more frequent and widespread across the network in recent years, the application to the ILO alleges.
It also states that “forced labour” is defined in the international conventions of the ILO as “work exacted under the menace of a penalty, or work for which the worker has not offered himself fully liking”, which is the case for Quebec nurses.
This management practice is a cause of exhaustion of health care workers which also has a direct effect on the care offered to the population, argues Ms. Bouchard.
Far from solving the labor shortage, the OSI is “one of the most important causes” and is constantly making it worse, as nurses leave their jobs, increasing the workload of those who remain even more, deplores-t- she.
The practice is so “trivialized and normalized in Quebec” that the FIQ and its affiliated unions believe they have no choice but to contact the ILO to confirm that the TSO infringes the fundamental rights of the staff. male nurse.
The request was filed Thursday and served on the Quebec and Canadian governments.
The ILO is asked to formulate “recommendations” so that Quebec takes the necessary measures to put an end to this systematic management practice.
The recommendations will not be binding, but the approach also aims to “put pressure” on the government while embarrassing it if it does not act, underlines Ms. Bouchard.