The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ) rejected by 61% the government’s latest offer of an agreement in principle on Saturday.
The vote, spread over three days, ended at 11:59 p.m. Friday evening. With a participation of 77%, the FIQ rejected the government offer, although its members were recommended to vote in favor.
Representing nearly 80,000 nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, the FIQ has been negotiating its new collective agreement for 15 months.
Several days of strikes have taken place since the start of negotiations. Quebec nursing staff are demanding better salaries, better pensions, flexible working hours and mandatory management of overtime.
“In the coming days and weeks, we will take stock with your union representatives and return to the negotiating table,” the union announced early Saturday.
For her part, the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, claimed to have read the result of the vote.
“We are going to meet with the union to understand what is wrong. However, the context and our objectives will remain the same, particularly in terms of flexibility,” she said.
“Discussions will continue. It remains that we must make the necessary changes to improve our health network and become an employer of choice,” underlined the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, Saturday morning in a publication on X.
Since last December, the inter-union common front as well as the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) have concluded and ratified their respective agreements, after several months of strike and side-by-side negotiations with the FIQ.
There are only two major public sector unions left to negotiate their collective agreements, the Union of Professionals of the Government of Quebec and the Union of Public and Parapublic Services of Quebec.