Following a federal council held Monday, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) says it is ready to negotiate a new proposal for an agreement in principle with the Quebec government. The union claims that its delegates have told it that the 80,000 members want “stability” and are opposed to involuntary displacement.
FIQ union members rejected by 61% the agreement in principle concluded between Quebec and their union during a referendum vote held two weeks ago. In some areas, opposition was even stronger. At the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), union members voted 89% against the agreement. This percentage rose to 80% at the Union of Healthcare Professionals of the East Island of Montreal.
“Care professionals do not want to be moved from one side to the other,” said in an interview with Duty the president of the FIQ, Julie Bouchard. They want to know where they work to maintain a “sense of belonging to their team” and ensure that they have “all the skills and experiences necessary to provide care to the population,” she specifies. .
The previous agreement in principle would have allowed health establishments to create “activity centers” bringing together units or facilities on their territory. The employer could thus have moved healthcare professionals from one location to another, with a maximum distance of 25 km between the employee’s home port and the transfer site (35 km in the region). Training for displaced members was planned, according to the FIQ. “What we have as a mandate is really not to go for this type of travel,” indicates Julie Bouchard.
The FIQ intends to ask Quebec “to improve access to overtime at double rate on weekends”, particularly for part-time union members, who represent “perhaps 35 or 40% of members”, estimates Julie Bouchard . In the previous agreement, the double rate was offered to full-time employees working in an activity center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A higher salary
The union also wants to return to the charge regarding the planned salary increase. The government is proposing an increase of 17.4%, but healthcare professionals would at the same time lose a “recognition bonus” of 3.5% granted under the last collective agreement. “It’s a loss of income for them,” says Julie Bouchard. With the cost of living today, they say to themselves that it is something super important, that we must not put aside and, on the contrary, that we must do everything to seek the 3.5 % that we had before. »
Another demand: increase the salary of auxiliary nurses at the first and second levels and that of respiratory therapists at the first level so that they earn more than beneficiary attendants. Currently, their remuneration is lower. “We looked for a compensatory amount in the agreement in principle,” explains Julie Bouchard. Practical nurses and respiratory therapists want [l’augmentation de] salary and everything that comes with it, the pension fund. »
Julie Bouchard recognizes that the issues to be resolved remain numerous. How can we reach an agreement, knowing that the government has been insisting since the start of negotiations that it wants more flexibility? “When we are in negotiations, sometimes we have to do tests and, this time, we tried that [proposition d’entente de principe] to see where it could take us, because we had to unblock the negotiating table and close the government,” replies Julie Bouchard.
According to her, the 80,000 members of the FIQ — nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists — have sent a clear message to Quebec: they are “really determined to continue this battle.”
The president of the FIQ assures that her leadership was not the subject of discussion or a vote of confidence during the federal council. Members are calling for his resignation. “It’s not a question of one person,” she thinks. The discontent is with the government since it is our employer. »