As the summer holidays begin, the FIQ has reached a deadlock in its negotiations with Quebec and is considering stepping up its pressure tactics in the near future.
The Treasury Board, for its part, assures that there is “no question of an impasse”, although the Interprofessional Health Federation has still not succeeded in renewing its collective agreements, after 500 days.
During a meeting with the press on Monday in front of the Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal, the president of the FIQ, Julie Bouchard, reiterated that the negotiations are “at an impasse” and that they are no longer moving forward, blocked as they are on the issue of the expected mobility of nurses.
Healthcare facility managers want to be able to move nurses from unit to unit, or even facility to meet needs. Nurses see this as a refusal to recognize their expertise and a way of treating them as interchangeable pawns.
The FIQ had reached an agreement in principle with Quebec, but it was its members who rejected it, by a margin of 61%. And it is precisely this issue of mobility that irritates nurses the most, revealed the consultation held after the rejection of the agreement.
The Treasury Board is holding its ground. “The status quo is not an option in order to provide the health care to which the population is entitled,” it replied to the FIQ.
“The government’s objectives will remain the same,” he insisted.
And the strike?
Faced with what it considers to be a blockage, while the collective agreements have been expired since March 2023, the FIQ will soon discuss with its delegates a toughening of pressure tactics.
It already has a strike mandate, which is still in force. Its members had already walked out for a few days in November and December 2023.
Should we expect more strikes soon? “Is that the first thing we’ll do? No. We have other means of pressure planned,” replied Mr.me Bouchard, without wanting to reveal them.
The FIQ, however, says it is ready to strike again if necessary. “Obviously, if we have to go on strike days, we will do so,” concluded Mr.me Bouchard.
The Treasury Board, for its part, points out that it has already reached an agreement with other public sector union organizations. “We have reached agreements with the other unions, particularly on the subject of mobility.”
The other union organizations, however, represent a small number of nurses, since more than 90% of them are represented by the FIQ.
Both the FIQ and the Treasury Board are inviting the other party to negotiate to reach an agreement after 500 days. “The government is reaching out to the FIQ to continue discussions and negotiate,” the Treasury Board said.
The FIQ claims to have proposed solutions in recent months, but the government rejected them “out of hand,” says M.me Bouchard. She therefore invites him to “put himself in solution mode and to propose things to us that will enable us to get out of this impasse.”