“We are no longer in a dialogue of the deaf at all,” rejoiced Monday evening Julie Bouchard, president of the largest nurses union in the province, describing the tone of the current negotiations with the government as “respectful” . An agreement in principle, however, seems out of reach due to blockages on major issues.
“At the negotiating table, the tone is very good, respectful, no longer hostile at all,” described Julie Bouchard during a Facebook Live speaking to the 80,000 members of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) , Monday evening. This union represents 90% of nurses and practical nurses in the province, as well as respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists.
The FIQ is one of three union organizations representing state employees who have still not reached an agreement in principle for the renewal of their collective agreement, with those of civil servants and professionals. She has been in negotiations with Quebec for more than a year.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Julie Bouchard, president of the FIQ
We now see a certain openness to our requests and our solutions.
Julie Bouchard, president of the FIQ
However, she clarified, several major issues still prevent reaching an agreement in principle.
Mandatory travel
The employer’s request to be able to force a healthcare professional to work in another department is still stuck at the negotiating table. “It’s like taking a nurse or an auxiliary nurse, who works for example on a medical unit, and sending them to a CHSLD without expertise, without training and without having the experience,” cited Mme Bouchard.
“In public spaces, each time, [la partie patronale] says that the movement will be voluntary, but in reality, at the negotiating table, the intention is to be able to move someone when we have a need, whether the person is voluntary or not,” added Marc- André Courchesne, spokesperson for the negotiations.
The voluntary movement of employees is already permitted in collective agreements, he assured.
Our members told us that it was not possible to sign such a blank check to the government. It is the question of safety and the quality of care given to the population that is at stake.
Marc-André Courchesne, spokesperson for the negotiations
Slight progress: detailed explanations of the roles and expertise of the different healthcare professionals at the negotiating table would have improved discussions on the subject, according to Mr. Courchesne.
Professional/patient ratios
Second sticking point: the establishment of a ratio between healthcare professionals and patients. Such a measure is still rejected by the government, says M.me Bouchard.
For the FIQ, however, this is one of the solutions to improve working conditions, the retention of health system employees and the quality of care.
Such ratios are already in place in Australia and California. In Canada, British Columbia became the first province to adopt this measure last spring. British Columbia’s Minister of Health, Adrian Dix, called the measure “the leading international practice” for retaining nurses and providing quality health care.
Such ratios allow, according to Mme Bouchard, to avoid “tens of thousands of days of hospitalization for the population, to save hundreds of millions of dollars by reducing the rate of absenteeism, to increase attendance at work, to recreate this feeling of belonging there […] and stabilize care teams.”
A gradual implementation
The labor shortage is the main reason given by Quebec to avoid establishing such ratios, explained Marc-André Courchesne.
But you have to start somewhere. In California and Australia, they too lacked healthcare professionals. And when it was implemented, it had an immediate impact.
Julie Bouchard, president of the FIQ
Furthermore, the adoption of these ratios does not imply establishing them all at once, adds Mr. Courchesne. “We know it well, we are not crazy, that the day we negotiate this, it will take a certain time,” he explained. It’s a question of gradual introduction, to encourage people to return to the profession, or to choose the profession, so that in a few years we can introduce the ratios more widely. »
There would be more listening at the negotiating table, according to him, since these points were raised.
Mandatory overtime
The definition and remuneration of overtime, as well as salaries, are also among the subjects still under discussion between the FIQ and Quebec.
In all cases, the presence of a conciliator, appointed at the request of the FIQ last December, facilitates the negotiations. “It did not allow us to break the deadlock to the point of having an agreement in principle, but it allows us to advance discussions and show angles and avenues that we had not necessarily seen,” underlines Mr. Courchesne.
No new day of strike is planned by the union for the moment, also affirmed Mme Bouchard.
With The Canadian Press