Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Prime Minister Legault has spoken of wanting to offer “exceptional” conditions to nurses who have left for private employment agencies, in order to repatriate them to the public network, evoking the recognition of the seniority of these workers.
Prime Minister François Legault asked nurses on Thursday to be flexible in negotiations for the renewal of their collective agreement.
He wants to offer “exceptional” conditions to nurses who leave to work in private employment agencies , in order to bring them back into the network.
He acknowledged that recognizing the seniority of workers returning from the private sector “is part of the discussions”.
Recall that the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, tabled a bill on Wednesday to limit the use of private health employment agencies, but its effectiveness will depend on the ongoing negotiations between the Treasury Board and the unions.
“Nursing unions need to sit down with [the president of the Treasury Board] Sonia LeBel to provide flexibility, […] to be able to hire nurses directly with exceptional conditions in exceptional situations. Unions do not accept flexibility in collective agreements.
He maintained that the unions do not want to come and sit down at the negotiating table.
Wednesday, the president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) , Julie Bouchard, criticized the government for dragging its feet.
If the government is serious in its desire to negotiate to improve the lot of nurses and other healthcare professionals, it must accelerate the pace of discussions, because they are currently at the rate of one session every two weeks, she lamented.
