May 6, 2010

In this month of May 2010, I would like to wish all nursing and cardio-respiratory care professionals an excellent Health Month. While this should be a time of celebration and recognition of the outstanding work performed each day by thousands of devoted care professionals, it is marred by the government’s attitude towards them.

In spite of this, the tenacity of the care professionals is far from being weakened. The increase in the public outings of the Federation in the four corners of Quebec is starting to bear fruit. The tenacity of the care professionals is far from being weakened.

The numerous vigils held are still eating away at the confidence of those who would expect that the care professionals will turn the other cheek with each one of their blows. Each letter that is written, each interview given, each article published, each account on the social networks: all these interventions are bothersome.

We must be proud: the abandonment of most of the recuperative measures demanded by our management and government adversaries can only be attributed to the commitment and mobilization of the FIQ members. Yes, the government backed down due to one, and only one reason, the mobilization of the members.

Never in the history of Quebec, has a government been as unpopular as the one of Jean Charest. Never has a government had to deal with such a well-founded crisis.

Thus, mobilization has become the trademark of the members of the Federation. This mobilization contributes to putting the identity, pride, activism and especially the determination of the care professionals in the public eye.

At the beginning of April, the day after the Bachand budget, a survey was carried out with the population of Quebec in order to measure its perception of care professionals and their demands. The results concluded, in particular, that the public holds care professionals in high regard and they support their demands.  Here are the main features:

• 87% of the population considers that, within the framework of the present negotiations, the FIQ is not only defending its members interests, but also the public interest;
• 83% of Quebecers believe that the improvement of working conditions is likely to improve the healthcare system;
• 80% of the population stated they were in favour of the FIQ proposal to review the arrangement of work time in the following manner: transform all the part-time positions into full-time positions and make the full-time schedule a 4-day week instead of a 5-day week, with the workday being slightly longer;
• More than three out of four people believe that the Charest government does not give sufficient importance to the solutions put forward by the FIQ;
• Only 30% of respondents support public institutions using private healthcare employment agencies.

Reinforcement of the public health network, that is the issue of the present negotiations. The 2010 negotiations have also become an ideological battle on the future of care professionals and the healthcare system that Quebec society has given itself. The care professionals are the main characters in this struggle which puts values in play rather than just the provisions of a collective agreement, and the Quebec people support them.

I have faith in this cause. I have faith in the determination of the FIQ members. I have faith in their capacity to force the government’s hand so that it makes the needed change: that of reinforcing the public health system, that of the recognition of the work of care professionals.