An important development occurred on Sunday in the negotiations between the FIQ and Quebec, when the conciliator assigned to the case submitted a proposed agreement to be submitted to the members of the union organization.
In a message to its members, the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ) reports that the conciliator sees this as “a reasonable balance between the parties for the renewal of working conditions.” The FIQ itself does not qualify this proposal from the conciliator.
This proposal to be submitted to members comes as the countdown has already begun. The FIQ has announced that starting next Thursday, it will ask its members to refuse to work overtime.
This single means of pressure would have significant repercussions, given the strategic role of nurses in the health network.
Moreover, last Wednesday, the Administrative Labour Tribunal held a hearing on this pressure tactic planned by the FIQ, following a request to this effect from the Council for the Protection of the Sick. The latter was concerned about the effects of the nurses’ refusal to work overtime. The Tribunal’s decision has not yet been rendered.
The FIQ announced on Sunday that it will bring together its affiliated unions on Monday to present this recommendation to union representatives.
The conciliation between the FIQ and Quebec resumed on September 4 and both parties said they hoped for a happy outcome.
An agreement in principle had already been reached between the FIQ and Quebec, but it was the members who rejected it, by a vote of 61%, last spring.
The question of the mobility required of nurses was what most put off members, revealed the consultation held after this rejection.
Healthcare facility leaders want to be able to move nurses from one care unit to another, or even from one facility to another, to meet needs as they arise.
Nurses refuse to do this, seeing it as a way of denying their expertise and treating them as interchangeable pawns. They also see it as a problem for work-life balance.
The Treasury Board, for its part, confirmed on Sunday the presentation of this proposed agreement. “We will let the FIQ decide and we will not make any comments until then,” said the office of the President of the Treasury Board, Sonial LeBel.
The FIQ has 80,000 members, nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists. Its collective agreement expired on March 31, 2023, more than 500 days ago.