This week, the largest union of nurses in Quebec, the FIQ, made known its demands for the renewal of the collective agreements. With the crisis shaking emergencies, it is our duty to respond favorably and quickly to these requests.
Unsurprisingly, nurses are notably making two big demands for the umpteenth time.
- Listen to Elsie Lefebvre’s editorial on Richard Martineau’s show broadcast live every day at 10:32 a.m. via QUB-radio :
End of TSO and use of agencies
We are asking for the end of the TSO (the famous compulsory overtime which means that a nurse, after having worked eight hours, can be required to work a new eight hours) and an end to the use of private agencies which siphon off the public network of its nursing staff.
The two issues are linked. Due to the TSO, working conditions become intolerable and inhumane; work-family balance, impossible. Since their conditions are deteriorating, they leave in large numbers for private agencies, where they have a much more flexible schedule and which is not unfavorable.
By taking the direction of the private sector, they leave their colleagues with ever heavier tasks, with more OSI… Not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, new nurses throw in the towel and leave in turn .
Not profitable or efficient
If at least we got what we paid for, but no. Last year, the Quebec government paid over $1 billion for the agencies. It is neither profitable nor efficient in terms of the quality and safety of care.
It’s an infernal wheel that spins endlessly, making the working conditions ever more unbearable and the bill exponential. We’ve known about the problem for years. We have to stop this, it’s urgent. We sink.
Minister Christian Dubé said in May 2022 that he was giving himself less than three years to free himself from private agencies. Three years is a very long time, it must be reduced. The problem is that it’s going so badly that we wonder how we could deprive ourselves of it to continue. We understand the minister’s hesitation, but we ask him to act quickly.