(Quebec) The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, went there with a full charge against the health unions, which he accuses of harming his hiring plan. According to him, union representatives are more concerned with collecting the $ 15,000 bonus themselves than helping recruit new nurses.
“I do not think that the unions collaborate up to the role they should have”, lamented the Minister of Health on Tuesday. “I think our discussions with them have revealed to us in the last few weeks that they were more concerned that union representatives do not have access to the bonus,” he criticized, visibly irritated by the situation. .
“We said we were going [mettre] all our efforts with our staff to remove the mandatory overtime, to remove the workforce [indépendante]. We put very attractive bonuses, then what I have been hearing for weeks: “yes, but we, the union delegates, we are not entitled to it”, “said the minister at a press conference on Tuesday.
The Department of Health and Social Services is negotiating with the unions representing nursing and cardio-respiratory personnel, who will have access to the retention bonus of $ 15,000 per nurse. According to the union party, the ministerial decree includes “many inequities”. Workers who are on union leave are not covered by the bonuses.
On Monday, the five union organizations that represent them – FIQ, CSQ, FSSS, CUPE, SQEES – joined forces, during a joint press conference in Montreal, to demand the end of the government by ministerial decrees.
“We have been telling each other, for weeks, that we will try to negotiate together, discuss, then talk to each other and when I hear their press briefing, [lundi] where there is no mention of the aspect of the union delegation, I think that at some point we have to set the record straight, ”said the minister, asking union representatives to“ rise up Above the fight “.
On Twitter, the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ) denounced the exit of Minister Dubé and holds the opposite speech. “The unions presented solutions to attract and retain healthcare professionals, but the [gouvernement] refused to sit down to discuss it with us! The many conditions of his decree [ministériel] are a brake on recruitment and the minister does not want to hear it ”, we wrote.
But according to Mr. Dubé, the unions are hampering recruitment efforts by encouraging potential candidates not to sign the agreements for the payment of the $ 15,000 bonus. The union would also oppose Quebec’s recognition of the seniority of retirees who agree to return to the network, he said.
“We have 3,800 people with whom we are in negotiations, then there is a union on the other side, which says: ‘Don’t sign that’. Then I think I know the real reason why they say not to sign this, I just gave it to you, ”lamented Minister Dubé.
Some 864 nurses have been hired in the health network since the start of the recruitment and retention operation on September 23. More than 737 network workers have also accepted a full-time “upgrade”, for a total of 2,713 over the past six weeks. Health establishments are also negotiating with 3,721 potential candidates.
Despite everything, Minister Dubé said he was open to making the conditions flexible for having access to the attraction and retention bonus. “We would have liked better to discuss it and have an approval from the union, but it does not really seem to be in their card, there, to accept the changes we want to make. So we will come back as if it were a decree and then we will say: “here are the changes we are suggesting”. ”
One of the points in dispute is in particular the question of unpaid leave. The Ministry’s application guide, which essentially aims to popularize the conditions of the ministerial decree, indicates that “days without pay lose eligibility” for the bonus. This passage had provoked the ire of the unions and forced the Ministry to issue a “rectification”.
The Legault government has released 1 billion to offer bonuses ranging from $ 12,000 to $ 18,000, depending on the region, to nurses who agree to return to the network full time. The bonus is also paid to part-time workers who accept a job upgrade.