Union members in the public and parapublic sectors continue to increase pressure on the Quebec government. After the member unions of the Common Front announced on Monday three days of strike from November 21 to 23, it is now the turn of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) to announce two more days of strike on November 23 and 24. November.
FIQ members began their first two days of strike on Wednesday. The FIQ represents 80,000 nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, and their strike affects most health facilities in Quebec.
FIQ will strike again on November 23rd and 24th. The employment contracts of its members expired on March 31st.
“We must continue to put pressure on the government,” said Julie Bouchard, president of the FIQ, adding that her troops were determined to push for better working conditions.
FIQ’s strike mandate is a pressure tactic that could extend to an indefinite strike. A possibility that Ms. Bouchard does not rule out: if it happens, it will happen.
In an interview on Wednesday on Tout un matin on ICI Première, the president of the FIQ explained that the health sector is experiencing an exodus of dozens of workers per week. And we can’t afford to lose any more, she warns.
As a society, do we continue to choose to pay for public services? If the answer is yes, then investments definitely need to be made.
According to Ms Bouchard, the pace of work on site and the government’s recent salary offers will in no way encourage people to return or work in the network.
Improved offers
On October 29, Treasury Department President Sonia LeBel submitted bids for state employees for the fourth time. These offers vary depending on the task carried out and the union to which the workers belong.
This means the total supply over five years is 14.8%:
- Salary offers are 10.3%
- differentiated offers are 3%.
- all employees are paid a lump sum of $1,000 in the first year of employment; a one-time investment of 1.5%.
The improved offers announced on October 29 were deemed clearly inadequate by the FIQ, which is calling for bigger increases to combat inflation.
On Wednesday, Secretary LeBel’s office announced several measures proposed to union members to eliminate mandatory overtime and ensure better coverage of disadvantageous shifts. For example, it cites that a full-time nurse with a bachelor’s degree who works nights in the emergency room could earn nearly $142,000 per year at the end of the agreement.
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Union members of the Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ) say they want to “put pressure” on François Legault’s government and support their committee at the negotiating table today (Wednesday) and tomorrow.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Simon-Marc Charron
Non-urgent surgeries have been postponed
Since this is a healthcare strike, essential services are planned and the lists have already been approved by the Administrative Labor Court. The percentage of services to be maintained varies depending on the care unit.
At no time will medical professionals abandon patients in distress. Never. 100% of the staff work in emergency and intensive care.
In an impromptu press release Wednesday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé estimated that operating rooms were at about 70% capacity due to the strike.
These are operations that people have waited for, sometimes six months or a year. This doesn’t help with waiting lists.
Christian Dubé says that around 300 to 400 non-urgent operations per day will be delayed due to this strike.
“We are lucky that we have the private sector,” says Christian Dubé
I don’t feel comfortable with that, said Mr. Dubé about the strikes. It’s a bad time.
The Health Minister further said that private clinics are one of the solutions.
He said: “It is fortunate that we have private clinics where we can carry out our operations because that would be much more difficult.”
Our private clinics are not on strike, they can give themselves some leeway.
Mr. Dubé says there are more and more private clinics in Quebec because the government has handled tenders that had been delayed for all sorts of reasons.
Further strikes are expected in the health and education sectors
While the first day of strike took place on Monday, union leaders of CSQ, CSN, FTQ and APTS announced three consecutive days of strike on November 21, 22 and 23 if negotiations with the government remain impasse.
This Common Front strike will be joined by the possible indefinite general strike by the 65,000 primary and secondary school teachers who are members of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) from November 23rd.
Like the Common Front, the FAE judged Quebec’s new salary offer to be clearly inadequate.
In his economic update on Tuesday, Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard laid out a tight financial framework that appears to leave little room for public sector negotiations.
Minister Girard’s statement provides for a salary increase of 14.8% over five years, i.e. the overall offer presented on October 29 by the President of the Ministry of Finance, Sonia LeBel, and immediately rejected by the unions.
Unless the economy is stronger and we have no additional income, any additional spending will have to be borrowed, the finance minister warned.
The opposition criticizes the government’s leadership
In the eyes of liberal Monsef Derrraji, leader of the official opposition, the government has failed to act when it could have, for example on the issue of mandatory overtime.
Unfortunately, it is the citizens who are paying the price, he denounces, adding that the situation in emergencies on the eve of a flu season is very worrying.
This government inherited a $7 billion surplus, says the member for Nelligan, and it has not hesitated to hand out checks here and there.
If there is anyone to blame today, it is the CAQ’s mismanagement of public finances.
Very serious consequences are to be expected, according to the PQ
Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon predicts that the way the negotiations take place will have consequences for which the government bears full responsibility.
For the member for Camille-Laurin, Quebec’s offers to union members are likely to impoverish them. But he refused to quantify what he considered a reasonable salary offer.
If we enter into negotiations with the idea of impoverishing a large proportion of workers and maintain this line, we should not be surprised that this will have consequences, affirms the leader of the Parti Québécois.
Quebec’s mismanagement of finances and negotiations with essential workers have very serious consequences.
For his part, Pascal Bérubé of the PQ criticizes the Minister of Health Christian Dubé for being present at the inauguration but not during service breakdowns or crises.
François Legault is losing the battle for public opinion, says QS
Members of Québec Solidaire (QS) went to the union members demonstrating on Wednesday, and the leader of the second opposition group, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, reiterated that, in his opinion, Prime Minister François Legault was about to lose the party’s battle for the public Opinion.
To say to Mr. Nadeau-Dubois: these women and men hold the health system and the education system together, and François Legault doesn’t even offer them [des augmentations salariales à la hauteur de] Inflation. It’s insulting.
Member for Gouin explains that the impoverishment of workers will impoverish the whole of Quebec.
With information from Marie Isabelle Rochon
With information from The Canadian Press