(Montreal) Health care workers who agree to work overtime will be able to temporarily receive a double rate of their salary rather than a “time and a half”.
Posted at 4:48 p.m.
The Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), which represents 76,000 nurses, nursing assistants and other healthcare professionals, confirmed the information on Wednesday.
Quebec had to resolve to offer this measure in view of the lack of employees in the health network and the fact that those who remain say they are overworked and exhausted.
The news was announced to them on Wednesday. The unions in the health sector were still meeting, at the end of the afternoon, to discuss it among themselves and possibly issue a joint reaction.
This announcement comes a few days after the FIQ had asked the Government of Quebec for measures to retain nurses and help them “keep their heads above water” by compensating for the extra work they are facing, in the midst of holidays and another wave of COVID-19 is in full swing, leading to an increase in hospitalizations.
Healthcare workers had also lost their COVID bonuses in mid-May and had protested in vain. Their unions had warned the government that many workers would be demotivated and less inclined to work overtime.