Public sector negotiations: Nurses are running out of patience

Members of the Federation of Occupational Health of Quebec (FIQ) are impatient with negotiations slow and threatening to strike indefinitely.

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The FIQ and its private counterpart FIQP Tuesday in the National Assembly adopted a recommendation to associations regarding obtaining a general strike mandate.

“Given that the government has made no effort to ensure that healthcare professionals are given priority, we have just taken a new step towards the possibility of obtaining strike authorization,” FIQ Chair Nancy Bidard indicated in a press release.

The federation says it is always at the same point in the negotiations, while Quebec says it made a different offer.

“Healthcare professionals don’t want to turn down for the fourth time the offer of a 5% salary increase over a 3-year period that is currently on the table,” Ms. Bedard said.

As a reminder, the FIQ is calling for a 12.4% increase spread over three years, including 7.4 in payroll compensation.

According to the FIQ, Legault government has made no offer to improve working conditions for professionals in regions affected by labor shortages.

Given that it is imperative to address the workforce shortage for healthcare professionals, FIQ urges employers to improve their offerings in order to speed up negotiations.

“We cannot afford to extend the negotiations beyond the end of the parliamentary session,” Ms. Bedard warned.

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