A few thousand nurses gave the health minister a taste of Halloween by organizing a “horror march” outside his office in La Prairie on Monday evening.
The demonstration, organized by the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), began at the Parc des Jésuites on Boulevard Taschenreau, which was closed for the occasion between Boulevard Matte and Rue de la Levée. The participants then went to Christian Dubé’s office, which is just a few steps away from the park.
“If our working conditions don’t improve, there will be no one left in the health sector. “We’re hitting a wall,” exclaimed one protester interviewed by TVA Nouvelles.
Those present at the site said they had come to get better salary increases than those proposed, but also to oppose the government’s desire to be able to more easily transfer staff from one facility to another as needed. The union fears that this desire will push the seniority, preferences and skills of nursing staff into the background.
“The government is on the wrong track. We’ve been telling him this for months. But he refuses to hear us. “What the government is proposing will worsen the care of the population because health workers will all run for the exit door,” commented FIQ vice-president and co-leader of the negotiations, Jérôme Rousseau.
FIQ members voted 95% last week in favor of a strike that could be limited. They begin with a two-day strike on November 8th and 9th.
According to a ruling by the labor court, nurses are obliged to provide normal services in the emergency room and intensive care unit despite their strike. Other departments will have to forego some of their presence. This means that only 70% of the planned hours are offered in operating theaters (80% after six days of strike), while 85% of the service is now provided in nursing wards such as pediatrics, hemodialysis or radiation oncology.
The FIQ represents around 80,000 nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists.