The FIQ affirms that the rejection of the agreement in principle by 61% of its members is a sign that healthcare professionals in Quebec are dissatisfied with the employer’s offer.
• Read also: Nurses say “NO” to the agreement in principle
At a press conference, the president of the union, Julie Bouchard, stressed that nearly 66,000 members out of a possible 80,000 had exercised their right to vote.
“The message cannot be clearer than that: for healthcare professionals in Quebec […] their working conditions must reflect the conditions of care they provide to the population,” she declared.
The FIQ also says it is ready to return to the negotiating table.
“We roll up our sleeves, we continue this battle until there is something for them that will make a difference,” proclaims Ms. Bouchard.
The latter maintains that the nurses, practical nurses and respiratory therapists represented by the FIQ are far from having given up.
“They are ready, they are still mobilized. They are determined to continue this fight that they have already been waging for a very long time. They are exhausted from paying the price for bad decisions. They are exhausted from having such a heavy workload for too many years. They are tired of always having to do more with less,” explains the president of the union.
Issues to renegotiate
However, the FIQ had recommended to its members to accept the agreement in principle. The union now intends to consult its members in order to continue negotiations with Quebec in the right direction.
“I was disappointed, because when you have an agreement in principle in your hands and you recommend it […] it’s because we believe in it,” says Julie Bouchard.
“For us, it is important to understand the central issues that made this an unsatisfactory agreement in principle for them,” she adds.
These sticking points, which are undetermined for the moment in the eyes of the union, will be crucial for the future.
“We cannot completely brush aside the agreement in principle and think that we are returning to negotiations with 60 new demands. That’s not how it works and they know it very well,” says the president of the FIQ.
The union cannot comment at this time on the pressure tactics that members would be willing to deploy to convince Quebec to acquiesce to their demands.
The question of mobility is certainly one of the elements that convinced several members of the FIQ to reject this agreement in principle.
This issue has been denounced by the union since the start of negotiations, recalls Julie Bouchard.
“Care professionals do not want this mobility. Care professionals do not want to put their clients, but also their practice license, at risk. What this can do is create an exodus even more significant than what we are experiencing today,” she indicates. The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ) held a press briefing on Saturday morning, at 11 a.m., following the rejection of the agreement in principle by 61% of the members who spoke out in recent days.
Reaction of the PQ
While the Legault government demanded concessions from nurses in order to obtain more mobility between departments, the PQ health critic is calling on Quebec to also put water in its wine.
“In fact, I think that flexibility today must be applied by the government in its negotiations with nurses. Because we cannot imagine rebuilding the health system without nurses,” commented Joël Arseneau on the sidelines of the National Council of the Parti Québécois, in Drummondville.
“There is not only retention, but don’t forget that we also want to allow nurses who have already left the ship to return,” he added.– In collaboration with Patrick Bellerose, Parliamentary Office
See the full explanations in the video above.