Quebec tries to bring nurses from private sector back to public sector

In the midst of an ongoing health care crisis in Quebec, the province is trying to bring back nurses from the private sector into the public one. However, some nurses say they won’t make the transition until major changes are made.

“We’re talking about a grave change. We went through strikes and there was barely any movement from that,” said Melanie Boulerice, CEO of Nomadic Nurse Agency, a private agency in Montreal.

The province reached an agreement with the CSN union to allow nurses to maintain some seniority, meaning that if private sector nurses come back to work in the public sector, they can start their new job with up to five years of seniority.

“What does that really mean though? Like I’m just in line for vacation, is that it? I have a greater number of days for vacation. It doesn’t really mean much and they’re dangling this as if nurses are going to come back from the private sector. But right now, with regards to work-life balance, with regards to pay and with regards to flexibility, the private sector is much more in demand right now than the public sector,” said Naveed Hussain.

Hussain, who’s been a nurse at MUHC for 20 years, made the transition to the private sector five months ago.

“We’re valued as nurses. Whereas in the public sector were just a number. That’s a big reason why I made the jump and why I’m decreasing my hours at the hospital and increasing my hours in the private sector,” said Hussain.

Melanie Boulercie, CEO Nomadic Nurse Agency, says that the private sector has more opportunities for growth.

“We’ve noticed that in private we have different avenues of nursing we can pursue and the pay is considerably more interesting,” said Boulercie.

Last year, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé introduced Bill 10, which aims to eliminate the use of private agencies in the health network by 2026. Stating that if workers continue to leave at the same rate, they’ll need to recruit over one hundred thousand new staff in the next five years.

Boulercie says in order to get nurses into the public system, improvements need to be made.

“We’re talking about working conditions. We’re also talking about salary. We’re also talking about patient safety,” said Boulerice.

“Seniority is, unfortunately, it’s the least of our priorities.”