Standoff between Quebec and agencies | The North Shore is a “collateral victim”

(Quebec) “It doesn’t make damned common sense” for North Shore residents to become “collateral victims” of a fight between the Legault government and employment agencies, denounces the mayor of Sept-Îles. Quebec, for its part, accuses private companies of not honoring their contracts.

” It’s catastrophic. Excuse me, but that doesn’t make any damn common sense,” deplores Mayor Denis Miousse on the line. “We are caught in a standoff. We are the collateral victims of the fact that the Ministry and the agencies do not get along,” adds the elected representative from Sept-Îles.

Mr. Miousse – who was president of the board of directors of the CISSS de la Côte-Nord for eight years – cannot “understand” the decision of Minister Christian Dubé and implores him to give “time” to his region. “He needs to realize all the problems it will cause here,” he pleads.

Despite the current crisis, the Minister of Health announced on Tuesday on X that “this is not the time to go backwards”. He accuses “several” employment agencies of having responded to the government call for tenders with the new rules, but of not “providing the staff requested” by the establishments.

“During this transition period, we will take all necessary means, with our managers, to enforce the contracts that have been signed by the agencies,” warned Christian Dubé.

Due to the entry into force of a first mammoth contract limiting the use of agencies across the network, the CISSS de la Côte-Nord announced on Monday a vast reorganization of its services. A third of the beds will have to be closed by Sunday and patients moved to Quebec. Activities in emergency rooms and operating theaters will be reduced, among other things.

Around twenty doctors sounded the alarm in a letter sent to The Press. They accuse the Legault government of plunging the health network “into a precipitous” and “unprecedented” crisis.

The user committees also ask the minister to suspend his decision. “The Minister of Health must return to the conditions that prevailed before the decree, which allowed us to have sufficient manpower to carry out our mission,” argued their spokesperson, Jean-Pierre Porlier .

“ [Il faut que le ministre négocie] with managers and that they find realistic and lasting solutions together,” he said, affirming that users “are stuck in the woods”.

On the North Shore, independent workers occupy more than 60% of positions. This is equivalent to around 600 employees per day, according to the CISSS.

The problem of dependency on agencies has been known for a long time. In January, the establishment anticipated a deficit of 134 million for the current financial year, which is mainly explained by the increased use of employment agencies.

The CISSS de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue also announced on Monday a major reorganization of its services for the same reasons.

End of overtime

Under the new contract, Quebec imposes on placement agencies a ceiling rate per job title (as of May 19). For example, the maximum hourly rate for a private sector nurse is set at $71.87. The Ministry also authorizes an increase of 35% only for remote regions, such as the North Shore, until October 19, 2025.

However, with this rate cap, it becomes impossible to charge overtime. This is what mainly poses a problem on the North Shore, where agency employees, most of them from outside, accumulate weeks of 60 or 70 hours of work. Results ? Agencies claim to have had less manpower available to travel in recent days.

Quebec takes a different reading and sees it as an attempt by agencies to put pressure on the government, which the Association of Private Nursing Personnel Companies of Quebec (EPPSQ) rejects.

“The contract does not have a determined volume of hours,” retorts the president of the EPPSQ, Patrice Lapointe. “It is not true that we are not respecting the contractual agreement, it is a red herring that is being offered by the government because they are facing a crisis that we have been anticipating for years […] Now they are looking for a scapegoat, once again,” he adds.

According to our information, the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Government Acquisition Center (CAG) are increasing calls to some 170 companies selected as part of the call for tenders so that they can provide the requested personnel. on the North Shore.

Quebec believes that the offer on the table, with the 35% increase, is advantageous for regional agency workers, and there is no question of offering other exceptional measures.

Establishments are also authorized to conclude over-the-counter contracts with companies that have not qualified in the call for tenders, under article 13.1 of the Law on contracts of public bodies. This is an exceptional measure permitted in the event of service interruptions. A call for volunteers was also launched through the network to help out on the North Shore and in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

“Positions are filled every day to meet the needs of the North Shore. We are doing everything we can to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. The network is at the mercy of companies who have spent years threatening us with service disruptions and increasing their prices. We must put an end to it,” insisted Christian Dubé on Tuesday.

The EPPSQ contests the new contract. After filing a complaint with the AMP, which was not accepted, the group turned to the courts on Friday to have them declare certain articles of the law invalid.

Quebec hopes to abolish the use of independent labor across the entire network by 2026. Three targets have been set depending on the region. The North Shore is part of the last wave.

• October 20, 2024: Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches
• October 19, 2025: Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec, Estrie, Lanaudière and Laurentides
• October 18, 2026: Bas-Saint-Laurent, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Nord-du-Québec, Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Nunavik