The rag is burning between the Quebec government and health unions. Five nurses’ organizations have filed a complaint with the labor administration tribunal to prevent the government from using state health emergency powers to combat the labor shortage.
“The issue of staff shortages in the health and social services network has nothing to do with the health emergency, because the crisis in working conditions and the resulting shortage existed long before the pandemic. The recourse to a ministerial decree in this context is unjustifiable ”, plead the FSSS, the FSQ, the FIQ and the FIQP, the SQEES and the CUPE in a joint press release.
This complaint of obstruction of trade union work was made about a week after a public outing by the unions denouncing this practice. The reply from the Minister of Health Christian Dubé was not long in coming. The two sides accuse each other of hampering the recruitment of health workers with ineffective proposals.
“Unions, as negotiating agents appointed by law, are unquestionably the best placed to guide the government in putting in place effective measures. Today, it is to our members and to the population that we think ”, proclaimed Wednesday the five organizations.
Although they “welcome” the government’s billion-dollar plan to counter the flight of nurses, they contest “the bypassing of the negotiation process” in Quebec. Christian Dubé said last week that he had extended his hand to them, in particular to relax the conditions associated with staff attraction and retention bonuses.
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