(Montreal) The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ) will submit an adjusted list of demands on Monday, as part of negotiations with Quebec for the renewal of its members’ collective agreements.
The FIQ, which represents 80,000 nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, made the announcement in a press release on Sunday.
Jérôme Rousseau, vice-president of the FIQ and co-responsible for negotiations, indicated to The Canadian Press at the beginning of last week that the union already intended to review its demands and reduce the number, before that the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, asks unions in the public and parapublic sectors to do so.
Mme LeBel committed at the end of September to reducing her demands to five, and invited the unions to do the same.
“Basically, for us, very little will change. Our adjusted requests demonstrate our good faith, but we remain extremely far from an agreement. The government is offering us 9% over five years as a salary increase. In addition, he wants to remove any form of stability from healthcare professionals to treat them like interchangeable pawns. We will never accept that,” Mr. Rousseau said in a press release on Sunday.
The FIQ’s demands always concern better salary, an improvement in the workload and a better work-life balance, specifies the union in the same document.
Union representatives affiliated with the FIQ will meet Tuesday and Wednesday to review the revised list of demands, and will discuss the upcoming strike vote.
The union said on Sunday that it would not grant an interview before this meeting.
With information from Lia Lévesque, The Canadian Press