Interprofessional Health Care Federation of Quebec Delegates Endorse Tentative Agreement

At a virtual meeting of the National Council on December 8, delegates from the Interprofessional Health Care Federation of Quebec (FIQ) and of FIQ-Private Sector voted 82 per cent in favour of the tentative agreement reached the same day with the government on sectoral matters. Sectoral matters pertain to working conditions. FIQ, together with the Alliance of the Professional and Technical Health and Social Services Staff (APTS), is continuing its negotiations at the intersectoral bargaining table on wages, the pension plan, parental rights and regional disparities. When an intersectoral agreement is reached and then adopted by the FIQ and APTS delegates, a comprehensive tentative agreement setting out the entire content of the new collective agreement will be submitted to a vote by all FIQ members. The referendum will be held online.

A December 8 press release states that at the heart of the demands of care professionals were work overload, professional care/patient ratios, particularly in residential and long-term care centres (CHSLDs) and making full-time positions more attractive.

"These three major issues are intimately linked with each other and should be considered as inseparable by the government. In the end, the gains we obtained will guarantee health care professionals that they will work with a complete work team and in a stable position, on both their centre of activities and shift. They will be able to know their schedule in advance and have time off. They won't be taken hostage by mandatory overtime. In short, be able to practice their profession in a health network where work-family-personal life balance will truly be possible," said Roberto Bomba and Jérôme Rousseau, two of the leaders of the negotiating committee.

FIQ's President, Nancy Bédard, assessed the tentative agreement as follows: 

"This is an agreement that will significantly improve the Quebec nurses, licensed practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists' working conditions. The gains obtained are significant for the health care professionals, as they will profoundly change the destructive management culture of recent years that has greatly contributed to the deterioration of the working conditions. Moreover, management by mobility and flexibility will be a thing of the past and now the focus will be on stability. Not only will our members' quality of professional and personal life improve, but Quebec patients will also have greatly improved quality of their care."

- Targets for reducing professional ratios in public and private long-term care facilities (CHSLDs) and the addition of 1,000 full-time equivalent positions;

- A letter of agreement with the objective of reducing the use of overtime and the independent workforce (i.e., personnel hired through private hiring agencies);

- A commitment by the government to review the directive on the management framework governing the use of the independent workforce;

- Voluntary upgrading of care professionals from part-time to full-time positions on their shifts and in their activity centres;

- The addition of 500 full-time equivalent positions with priority in the medical-surgical activity centres;

- A new attraction-retention bonus for employees holding a full-time position on the evening, night and rotation shifts that can increase by up to four per cent;

- The weekend bonus for full-time care professionals will increase from four per cent to eight per cent;

- The reduction of job insecurity for care professionals, as they will have access to part-time positions seven days a week for every 15-day period;

- A 37.5-hour work week for clinical perfusionists, respiratory therapists who work in an activity centre 24/7 or on two different continuous shifts, as well as for nurses, nursing assistants and respiratory therapists who work in CLSCs and dispensaries.

"The necessary boost that the health network and health care professionals so badly needed is here at last. Obviously, this tentative agreement on the sectoral matters will not resolve all the health care professionals' problems, but we are convinced that the effects will be beneficial and sustainable over time for our members, as well as for the patients in Quebec," concluded Ms. Bédard.

FIQ members have, along with other health workers, stepped up their actions in the last few months to reach out to the public in order to increase the pressure on the government to negotiate an agreement that is acceptable to them, therefore improving the services to the population. This pressure must not let up. So long as governments give themselves special powers to suspend collective agreements arbitrarily, the workers' security will continue to lie in their fight for the rights of all. 

(Photos: FIQ)

This article was published in

Number 83 - December 10, 2020

Article Link:
Interprofessional Health Care Federation of Quebec Delegates Endorse Tentative Agreement

    

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