2023-09-06 15:36:31
Several hundred nurses demonstrated in downtown Montreal on Wednesday, promising to “disrupt traffic” in the hope of increasing pressure on the Legault government and obtaining progress at the bargaining table. negotiation.
“It seems that the government wants to reduce healthcare professionals to interchangeable pawns, who have no life. What the government wants is flexibility so that their managers can plug the holes in the schedules, and this, to the detriment of the workers on the floor, ”hammered the president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec on Wednesday. (FIQ), Julie Bouchard.
In particular, she accuses the government of “preferring the comfort of managers rather than the needs of healthcare professionals” and thus of “misunderstanding the serious and current problems in the network”.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE FIQ FACEBOOK PAGE
In total, regarding 500 members of the FIQ converged at the end of the followingnoon in downtown Montreal, very close to the Berri-UQAM station, before moving slowly towards the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal ( CHUM), on rue Sanguinet. Demonstrators had left Laval shortly following 3 p.m., at the Montmorency metro on the orange line.
At the Montreal Police Service. (SPVM), which provided security for the demonstration, it is argued that the rally did not force the closure of streets. ” It goes well. There are no impacts for the CHUM ambulances either,” said agent Jean-Pierre Brabant at the end of the day.
The demonstrators plan to distribute leaflets regarding the negotiation of their collective agreement, which has been going on for several months. The FIQ’s demands were filed last November. Quebec had submitted its offers to all state employees in December.
A “warm” autumn
As early as June, the FIQ had predicted a “hot” fall, unless the Legault government changed course in its negotiations with the nurses. Quebec will have to “review its offers significantly upwards”, we were then warned.
So far, the large union organization of 80,000 nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists had limited itself to lighter pressure tactics, such as wearing t-shirts, unrolling banners and smaller demonstrations. .
In August, the mediator assigned to the FIQ file, who had been appointed on June 8, had concluded that it was impossible to present a recommendation, as the positions of the parties seemed so far apart to him. However, during a meeting with Premier François Legault and the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, on August 21, the President of the FIQ, Julie Bouchard, and Minister LeBel said they were ready to speed up the pace negotiations.
In addition to compensation, the FIQ made several demands mainly concerning work-life balance and the workload. It claims in particular that the use of overtime work is only voluntary, except in an urgent or exceptional situation.
With The Canadian Press
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