FIQ to take part in ‘intensive negotiation session’

The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) is taking part Wednesday in what it describes as “an intensive negotiating session” with Quebec, where the issue of staff mobility remains the main stumbling block.

This after Treasury Board President Sonia Lebel wrote an open letter in La Presse on Tuesday about the situation.

Last Friday, the union rejected a new offer from Quebec and urged its members to refuse overtime as of Sept. 19.

In an interview Wednesday, FIQ president Julie Bouchard expressed the hope that she would not have to use this additional pressure tactic, and that the resumption of conciliation would finally bear fruit.

Far from being resigned or discouraged, “we’re really pleased” to be starting this intensive negotiation session, the union leader said.

The collective agreement of the FIQ, which represents 80,000 nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, expired on March 31, 2023.

An agreement in principle had been reached between the FIQ and Quebec City, but it was the members who rejected it by 61 per cent. Since then, there has been a stalemate over the issue of greater mobility required of nurses.

The FIQ was also scheduled to march on Wednesday to make their presence known in front of Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) MNAs in Rimouski.

The FIQ’s goal is to remind the government that they’ve been working without a contract for more than 500 days.

“There is nothing in what was put on the table that recognizes the expertise of healthcare professionals, nor prevents the employer from moving healthcare professionals wherever it wants,” said the FIQ last Friday.

Calling the latest proposal a “step backwards from the deal it rejected last April.”

-With files from La Presse Canadienne