Quebec’s largest nurses’┬аunion┬аsays health-care workers are beyond exhausted as they continue to feel the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic┬аand that the use of mandatory overtime to cover staffing shortages must┬аend.
The F├йd├йration interprofessionnelle de la sant├й du Qu├йbec┬а(FIQ) says that’s why more than┬а30,000 of its members in a dozen regions, including Montreal,┬аare refusing to work extra hours this weekend.
On Friday, the union┬аsent formal notices to local and provincial health authorities┬аinforming them of this weekend’s plans. It also┬аissued┬аa deadline of Nov.┬а15 to ban the practice of forced overtime entirely or┬аface action from the FIQ.
“We never know what time we are going to leave work,” said Patrick Guay, vice-president┬аof the FIQ’s department of labour relations.
“It has an impact on our families, it has an impact on the overall [health] network…. There’s no more patience. It’s over.”
The nurses’ union says it’s reached out to Quebec’s workplace safety board┬аand asked it to intervene. It also asked the province’s human rights commission to study the issue.
The FIQ says the “inhumanity of such a system” puts the health and safety of both nurses and patients at risk and is also causing psychological damage to employees.
“We need to end this management style,” Guay said. “There are other ways to provide service than forcing people to work.”
‘There’s no magic wand,’ health minister says
Health Minister Christian Dub├й┬аagrees that mandatory overtime isn’t sustainable, but he says getting rid of it isn’t something that can happen overnight.
“It’s addressed in the collective agreement,” Dub├й┬аsaid on┬аFriday, referring to an agreement in principle between Quebec and the FIQ that was signed on Oct.┬а6.
“We don’t want any more mandatory overtime … but there’s no magic wand,” he said.
“We’re not going to be able to go from five, six, seven┬аper cent usage of mandatory overtime in certain regions┬аto zero tomorrow morning. It’s not possible.”
Dub├й said┬аthe province’s plan to address the personnel crisis is┬аa work in progress, and mandatory overtime was a management tactic┬аused┬аwell before the pandemic.
He said that next week,┬аhe hopes to present┬аconcrete measures to improve working conditions in the health-care system┬атАФ┬аmeasures he hopes will convince more nurses to come out of retirement, encourage┬аpart-time employees to agree to full-time work and attract new hires.
Dub├й┬аsaid┬аnurses want to see a culture change on the job and that┬аhe’s committed to making that happen.
Quebec’s Health Ministry says almost 1,800 nurses have been hired, have come back to work or have moved to full-time positions in the last few weeks. The ministry says it’s┬аin discussions with close to 2,400 other potential┬аcandidates.
But the nurses’ union┬аsays the government’s recruitment efforts haven’t yielded any results when it comes to eliminating┬аmandatory overtime. It says it will be rolling out the next steps of┬аits plan to see the┬аpractice banned in the coming days.
