In the midst of negotiations between public sector workers and the Quebec government, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) has learned that the government will put an end to bonuses that have affected its members since the pandemic.
These bonuses were intended for nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists. They will end on September 30. According to the FIQ’s assessment, affected healthcare professionals will lose up to 7.5% of their salary on evening shifts, 6% on night shifts, as well as 3.5% on day shifts.
“Usually, bonuses are maintained until the collective agreement expires and salaries are adjusted accordingly,” laments Jérôme Rousseau, vice-president of the union and co-responsible for negotiations, in an interview with The duty. This is a very bad message that the government is sending while negotiations are still underway. »
In a press release, the FIQ accuses the government of speaking “out of both sides of its mouth”, arguing that it “cannot, on the one hand, repeat that it wants to increase remuneration to fill shifts with offers differentiated, and at the same time stop the bonuses on which healthcare professionals rely to buy groceries. »
At the time these lines were written, the office of the President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Government Administration, Sonia Lebel, had confirmed to Duty that the bonuses would end, but had still not given more details on the state of the negotiations.
“Adjusted remuneration”
The FIQ specifies that it “is not against remuneration adjusted according to certain more demanding constraints”, but that it is “against the idea that the State chooses arbitrarily, almost individually, and quarter by quarter, to which premiums will apply. In particular, she demands that salaries be increased by 50% on weekends.
The union has maintained, since the start of negotiations, that the Quebec health system does not suffer so much from a potential labor shortage, but from undesirable working conditions and an “unreasonable” workload which discourages professionals to occupy certain positions or to work more. “Conditions in the network are such that virtually all shifts deserve a bonus,” says the organization.
On Thursday, the public sector inter-union common front also denounced the end of certain bonuses from September 30. This also affects, for example, retention bonuses for psychologists, bonuses for medical secretaries and bonuses for certain specialized workers.
The president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, replied that some of these bonuses had already been extended in March, then in June, as a sign of good faith. But they must now be renegotiated according to priorities, she explained.
With The Canadian Press