Health Care Workers Step Up
Their Fight for Their Rights
Quebec Workers Block Bridges to Pressure Government to Negotiate
Jacques Cartier Bridge, Montreal, October 19,
2020
On
Monday morning, October 19, members of the
Interprofessional Health
Care Federation of Quebec (FIQ) blocked traffic
on the Jacques Cartier
Bridge in Montreal and on the Quebec Bridge
between Sainte-Foy and Lévis for about an hour.
They organized these demonstrations as a means
of informing everyone of
their situation. These health care professionals
need their negotiations with the Quebec
government unblocked and they
need government to respect and agree to their
demands for immediate and
serious improvements in their wages and working
conditions. They are
calling for a publicly televised debate with the
Minister of Health.
 "Both
literally and figuratively, we are once again
sending a distress signal
to the Legault government. Over the past few
days, we have been clear:
the government will see care professionals where
it is not used to
seeing them. We no longer have any other choice.
For too long, and in
every forum, we have been repeating that burnout
is taking
its toll on health care professionals and
pushing them towards illness,
retirement or resignation. We have been at the
bargaining table for
months and our concrete proposals continue to be
ignored. If our words
are not being effective, our actions will have
to be. Today, we want
all of Quebec to know that we have had enough,
that our working
conditions must change," said Nancy Bédard, FIQ
President.
The FIQ has launched a public call to the
Minister of Health and
Social Services, Christian Dubé, to hold an open
debate with the
federation, broadcast by the media so everyone
can see and hear, on the
state of working conditions for healthcare
professionals.
"How is it that we are still at the stage of
convincing the
government of the merits of our demands? I
invite Mr. Dubé,
through the medium of his choice, to engage in a
frank discussion that
will allow the public to judge for itself on the
issue of overwork,
mandatory overtime and the reorganization of
full-time work schedules.
It is now time
for Minister Dubé's words to be translated into
concrete
action," said the FIQ President.
The federation has announced that it will take
further action in the
coming weeks to make its voice heard by
everyone. On October 24 and 25,
FIQ members will refuse mandatory overtime
(MO).Workers will work their
regular shift and will work overtime on a
voluntary basis but will
refuse MO.
An Overview of FIQ's Demands
 Among the main
demands of the federation are the following:
- A reasonable and safe workload.
- Safe healthcare professional-to-patient
ratios.
- Stabilization of the work teams.
- Elimination of the use of mandatory overtime
as a management tool.
- Make full time positions more attractive. [by
eliminating the imposition of mandatory
overtime and other abuses - WF Ed. Note.]
- Guaranteed time off on negotiated statutory
holidays.
- Workers' input in setting schedules.
In terms of wages, FIQ is demanding a wage
increase of 12.4 per cent over three
years, of which 7.4 per cent is a wage catch-up
to compensate for the gap that
has widened between health care workers and
other public sector workers
such as those at Hydro-Québec or universities.
The Quebec
government is sticking to a provocative "offer"
of a 5 per cent increase
over three years, essentially no increase once
inflation is taken into
account. This wage offer has remained the same
since May.
This article was published in
Number 72 - October 22, 2020
Article Link:
Health Care Workers Step Up
Their Fight for Their Rights: Quebec Workers Block Bridges to Pressure Government to Negotiate
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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