March 30, 2023

More than a hundred healthcare professionals from the Greater Montréal area gathered in Montréal to mark the end of their collective agreement and support their Negotiating Committee which is struggling to get dates to negotiate with the government. “The collective agreement is about to expire and there is no indication at the moment that the government is in any real hurry to come to an agreement with us. It is March 30 and we still do not have an overall picture of the government’s offers to the 80,000 healthcare professionals we represent. So when we hear this same government saying loud and clear that it wants to conclude the negotiations by the summer, it’s hard to believe,” stated Julie Bouchard, President of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec – FIQ.

This is why dozens of nurses, licensed practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists gathered in front of the Novotel Hotel in Montréal where a bargaining meeting between the FIQ Negotiating Committee and the government representatives was being held today. “The message that they wanted to send to the government today is that they want and deserve better working and salary conditions quickly. This is not only to regain a better quality of personal and working life, but also to be able to offer quality and safe patient care. The future of the public health network is at stake”, explained the president.

Words, words and more words

For the Federation, it is becoming increasingly difficult to follow the real intentions of the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia Lebel. “We are still at a day of bargaining every two weeks, on average. At that rate, is Ms. Lebel talking about the summer of 2023 or that of 2024 for an agreement? This is in addition to the fact that, as of today, the government has not yet given an overall picture of its offers to healthcare professionals. We submitted the healthcare professionals’ 60 demands from a vast consultation on November 7, 2022.  They are 60 concrete solutions that can be quickly implemented to significantly improve our members working conditions. Not to mention the fact that our demands come from our members and are simple and quick to implement. Four months later, it is high time for the government drop public relations and actively negotiate”, continued Ms. Bouchard.

The Federation feels that healthcare professionals have been stretching the elastic band long enough. “ For too many years, governments have taken it for granted that healthcare professionals’ passion for their work and their patients can make them accept anything. There’s a limit and they fully intend to make this point to the current government”, concluded the union spokesperson.