The idea of creating a flying team of nurses and beneficiary attendants for regions more seriously affected by the shortage is well received by the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), although it is not a signatory of the agreement to this effect.
The FIQ, which represents 80,000 nurses, practical nurses and other healthcare professionals, or more than 90% of them, affirms that it itself proposed this solution last November, and that it is Quebec which had refused it.
The Confederation of National Unions (CSN) and the Federation of Quebec Workers (FTQ), which signed the agreement relating to the creation of this flying team, announced Thursday by the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, represent well most of the beneficiary attendants, but a limited number of nurses.
In second place, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) represents around 5,000 and is also not a signatory to this agreement. However, it is the CSQ which represents nurses in the Côte-Nord, one of the two hardest hit regions, with Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
In an interview on Friday, Jérôme Rousseau, vice-president of the FIQ and co-responsible for negotiations, affirmed that his union remains open to the idea of a flying team, provided that the parameters are negotiated.
According to him, this is a demonstration that the movement of nurses must be voluntary, not forced, and that to find volunteers, advantages must be offered.
Mr. Rousseau also insists that the flying team, although a laudable idea for the short term, does not solve the problem of these regions in the longer term. We must negotiate ways to attract and retain staff over the longer term in these regions, he argues.