Prime Minister François Legault asked nurses on Thursday to be flexible in negotiations for the renewal of their collective agreement.
He wants to offer “exceptional” conditions to nurses who have gone to work in private employment agencies, in order to repatriate them to the network.
He acknowledged that recognizing the seniority of workers returning from the private sector “is part of the discussions”.
Recall that the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, tabled a bill on Wednesday to limit the use of private health employment agencies, but its effectiveness will depend on the negotiations underway between the Treasury Board and the unions.
“The nurses’ unions need to sit down with [la présidente du Conseil du trésor] Sonia LeBel to provide flexibility, […] to be able to hire live nurses with exceptional conditions in exceptional situations. Unions do not accept flexibility in collective agreements. »
He maintained that the unions do not want to come to the bargaining table.
On Wednesday, the president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), Julie Bouchard, criticized the government for dragging its feet.
If the government is serious in its desire to negotiate to improve the lot of nurses and other healthcare professionals, it must speed up the pace of the discussions, because they are currently held at the rate of one session every two weeks, she lamented.
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