Published January 30, 2024

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The president of Quebec’s main nurses’ union has said negotiations with the provincial government are going “pretty well.

“We’re no longer talking to a wall like we were a few weeks ago; we’re no longer in a situation where they’re discussing their solutions and ignoring ours,” said Julie Bouchard, president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) at an online round table on Jan. 22.

The FIQ represents 80,000 health-care professionals across the province, including nurses, nursing assistants and respiratory therapists. It has been negotiating separately from the massive Front Commun bloc, which reached an agreement in principle with the government just before the New Year (see below). The FIQ has yet to reach an agreement.

In October, about 95 per cent of FIQ members voted for an escalating sequence of strikes, potentially leading to an unlimited general strike. In November and December, the union went on strike for eight non-continuous days before requesting the appointment of a mediator. Although progress has been made since then, according to the union, major sticking points remain.

Contentious issues include obligatory movement of staff, professional-patient ratios and financial incentives. “We want a salary [increase] that has an impact on our retirement – with bonuses and other cash incentives, we get more money, but it doesn’t impact our retire- ment; we want salaries, not bonuses,” FIQ negotiations spokesperson Marc-André Courchesne explained. The union also wants to end forced reassignment of staff – “You would never ask a heart surgeon to work in a CHSLD because that’s not the best use of their expertise … but the government seems to think one nurse or nursing assistant is as good as another,” said Courchesne.

“We are still far from an agreement, but it’s very respectful and we are even seeing a certain openness to our demands,” Bouchard said. “We

will take the time to present [members] with a proposal that will make a difference to our working conditions.” No further strike days are planned as of this writing.

Front Commun votes progressing; FAE agreement hangs in the balance

The Front Commun bloc, which represents more than 400,000 public sector work- ers in health, education and social services, announced an agreement in principle in late December; individual union locals are now voting on the main agreement and sectoral agreements for their fields. Voting began two weeks ago, and results will continue to roll in until mid-February. “I can’t give [detailed] results for the moment, but for the moment, we’re optimistic [the agreement will pass],” Yves De Repentigny, vice president responsible for CEGEPs at the Fédération des enseignants et enseignantes du Québec (FNE- EQ), affiliated with the CSN, of which the CEGEP Champlain- St. Lawrence teachers’ union is a member, told the QCT. “We recommended sending the agreement to a vote, but we don’t recommend people vote one way or another. That said, we wouldn’t send it to a vote if we thought it was terrible.”

St. Lawrence union president Stéphanie Plante said St. Lawrence teachers voted 91.7 per cent in favour of the deal. The Central Québec Teachers’ Association, also affiliated with the Front Commun through the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers and the CSN, approved its sectoral agreement by a 59.3 per cent margin and the main agreement by 75.8 per cent.

The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), whose members returned from a monthlong general strike after the holidays, is facing a make-or-break moment with its own agreement. So far, four member unions have voted for it and four (including the union representing teachers in the Quebec City region) have turned it down. The Syndicat d’enseignement Haute-Yamaska, in the Eastern Townships, casts the deciding vote Jan. 31.

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