(Montreal) In the hope of putting an end to the most recent wave of resignations which saw nine nurses leave their positions at the Inuulitsivik Health Center (CSI), a mediator has just been appointed to calm the tension between the union and the direction. A first meeting was also scheduled for Tuesday.
It is the Nordic Union of Nurses of Hudson’s Bay (SNIIBH) which would have made a request to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity (MTESS). Then, the employer would have given its consent to participate in a mediation process.
Despite the wind of hope that accompanies the mediation process, the president of the SNIIBH, Cyril Gabreau, says he remains worried in the short term for the quality of health services offered to the populations of the Inuit villages of Hudson Bay.
“For the moment, we have not had any other resignations, but let’s say that the expectations of mediation are present and several who no longer have confidence in the CSI have nevertheless accepted to give mediation a chance”, said commented Mr. Gabreau in an email exchange with The Canadian Press.
Last month, the union went out in public to denounce the work climate that prevails in the dispensaries of the villages on the coast of Hudson’s Bay. In a petition addressed to the management of the CSI and to the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, he demanded in particular a plan for the organization of working hours and a harmonization of working conditions with those of workers in James Bay and the Baie from Ungava.
The Ungava Tulattavik Health Center and the Inuulitsivik Health Center come under the same Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services (RRSSSN). Minister Dubé had also declared that it was up to the board, an independent body, to find solutions to improve the working climate.
Pressure tactics
Even as mediation begins, the union continues to put pressure on the employer by putting forward new strategies. According to the SNIIBH, ten of the 11 nurses who practice in an expanded role – that is to say that they can perform certain medical acts without the presence of a doctor – would have withdrawn their availability for work for the months of April, May and June. To these are added 50% of the occasional part-time nursing workforce who refused to make themselves available for the same term.
The main condition set by all these healthcare professionals is to agree on an arrangement of work time that is acceptable to union members. Like everywhere else in Quebec, nurses in Nunavik are fed up with compulsory overtime.
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