Immediately filed, immediately denounced. Bill 15, which aims to reform the health care system and make it more efficient, arouses the dissatisfaction of the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ) and unions representing professionals working in the network.
Quebec wants to merge the union certifications to reduce them from 136 to 4. This will have the effect of allowing a nurse to keep her seniority even if she changes health establishment or place of practice. The bill will also make it possible to impose specific medical activities (AMP) on medical specialists in order to improve access to specialized care in each region. General practitioners are already obliged to carry out ART within the first 15 years of their practice.
The FMSQ denounces the “counter-productive method” of the Quebec government. In a press release, the union of medical specialists deplores the “attitude of confrontation” of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). “While this bill, the tabling of which had been announced several months ago, was to relate to the creation of the Santé Québec agency, the MSSS is taking the opportunity to insert measures having a direct impact on the conditions of practice of medical specialists,” we write.
According to the FMSQ, the government is thus trying “clumsily to evade the negotiation process” in which the union says it participates “always in good faith”. “The Federation emphasizes that it will not give up on respect for this fundamental right”, she continues. The FMSQ stresses that it is “deeply unacceptable to suggest that medical specialists are no longer present in hospitals after 4 p.m.”. She recognizes that “changes are necessary within the health network” but that these must be made “within the framework of serious discussions and negotiations”.
The Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ) says in a statement that the potential merger of union certifications is “a serious attack on the right of association”. For its part, the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS) “firmly denounces” the bill and deplores the “lack of consultation of employees” and people in the field. The union believes that the reform will have the effect of centralizing powers.
The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) says it is analyzing this “mammoth” bill. “Does the bill have a positive effect for all healthcare professionals in Quebec? We are still analyzing this. What is the added value for them? Currently, I don’t see it,” said its president, Julie Bouchard, in an interview with The duty.
Julie Bouchard did not want to react to the question of union accreditation mergers. “The most important thing is really the working conditions of the healthcare professionals and certainly not the union structure,” she affirms. When the time comes, we will do our job as we did in the last two reforms. »
The president of the FIQ believes that national seniority will not solve the problem of the shortage of nurses in the public network. “The healthcare professionals who left for the private sector in recent months, in recent years, did so to have better working conditions, not because they lacked network seniority. »
Further details will follow.