2024-07-15 19:12:15
After two months of negotiations, Quebec and the largest health unions have reached an agreement to oversee the formation of flying teams that will be deployed on the North Shore, Abitibi-Timiscaminga and Utawe.
The Ministry of Health and the Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN) reached an agreement in principle on Monday to deploy volunteers as soon as possible in areas where health personnel are urgently needed.
As union president Rejean Leclerc mentioned, the negotiations that have just taken place are inevitable because the new collective agreement does not mention this type of flying team at all.
Both parties must sit down and negotiate to clearly define the working conditions of the volunteers.
Quoting FSSS-CSN President Réjean Leclerc
Negotiations included specific bonuses, adequate accommodation and free repatriation for injured workers in the region.
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Réjean Leclerc is President of the FSSS-CSN, representing the health and social services network’s 120,000 employees.
Photo: Radio-Canada
Fewer private institutions
These mobile teams, specifically composed of nurses and beneficiary attendants from the public network, became necessary following Quebec’s new contract conditions for private agencies came into effect in May.
Some agencies subsequently claimed that they might no longer provide as many staff because of hourly wage caps.
The North Shore and Abitibi-Timiscaminga typically employ 600 to 700 people from the private sector in the health sector, which the government wants to stop using within two years.
In a radio interview in mid-May north 138 Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said on North Shore Radio that 50 people might join the flight force in the short term, with up to 1,500 staff members possible.
In fact, as of June 25, the province of Quebec had hired just one nurse to arrive on the North Shore, out of an expected 40 workers.
impatient
The impatience was palpable last week during a visit to the North Shore by Minister Christian Dubé and Frédéric Abergel, Santé Québec’s vice-president of operations and transformation.
Youssef Ezahr, president of the CISSS de la Côte-Nord Committee of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists, recalled that solutions other than flying teams had long been sought.
“A nurse coming in from Montreal at the last minute in a crisis situation and not understanding the environment is a risk to our patients,” he said. We have been providing solutions since the end of May. They were not listened to and we continued to tell the story of the flying team that never showed up.
North Shore is considering new neonatal transfers as Seven Islands Hospital’s mother-baby center and pediatric services continue to decline. The Forestville emergency room will also be affected in July.
In addition to the Flying Team agreement, funding has been released to promote personnel retention in targeted areas.
The FSSS-CSN president designated $2.2 million for the North Shore region and $2 million for the Abitibi-Timiskaminge region. Work is scheduled to begin next fall.
On the X network, Minister Dubé was pleased to have signed agreements with FTQ and CSN. Now, we are putting pressure on recruiting teams to quickly deploy reinforcements on the ground, he added.
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