Bill 15 and its impacts on union representation
For several months, the FIQ has closely followed the progress of the work on the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé’s Bill 15. This major reform will fundamentally transform the management of the health and social services network, bringing all institutions under the aegis of the Santé Québec agency, making this new agency the only employer.
It has been clear for some time that this bill would bring into question the existence of local union accreditations. However, we recently learned that the government would table amendments to increase the number of job classes from 4 to 6, moving the respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists from Class 1 to Class 6. These amendments were tabled on November 28, 2023 at the parliamentary commission responsible for studying the bill.
In the days that followed, the FIQ conducted a wide-ranging campaign with different partners, organizations and MNAs to get Minister Dubé to back down, arguing for maintaining the unity of the care team. Unfortunately, Minister Dubé turned a deaf ear to our arguments, and the amendments in question were adopted on Thursday, December 7.
A petition has been started at the National Assembly to maintain these job titles in Class 1. We encourage you to sign it now.
Several members affected by this change of accreditation have expressed their deep concern about the uncertainties surrounding the defence of their rights and their working conditions. Respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionist work in close collaboration with nurses and licensed practical nurses. The organization of their day-to-day work and their tasks linked to direct patient care are complementary.
And adding insult to injury, the government stated it wants to pass this bill before the holidays under closure. How can it launch such a far-reaching centralizing reform of the health network while refusing to answer fundamental questions such as the loss of transparency, increased centralization, inadequate accountability mechanisms and the unprecedented opening up to privatization of care and services? We believe that passing such a bill will be catastrophic for the health and social services network.
In conclusion, remember that all the public network labour organizations, the APTS, CSN, CSQ, FIQ, FP–CSN, FSSS–CSN, FSQ–CSQ, SCFP, SPGQ and the SQEES–FTQ, are working with citizens’ and community organizations to counter the negative consequences of the Dubé reform. You can count on us to keep you informed of our efforts.