Négociation nationale 2020

Healthcare professionals send distress signals to parliamentarians

Healthcare professionals send distress signals to parliamentarians

Fed up with not being heard or taken seriously by the government, healthcare professionals gathered outside of the National Assembly to signal their distress. They came to personally deliver the message to the government and to parliamentarians that it is urgent that they conclude negotiations for the new collective agreement.

For months healthcare professionals across Quebec have been sending the government signals about the serious labour shortage creating service interruptions in health network units, depriving patients of essential care and services.

The health network has degraded more quickly due to care prioritization and the exodus of healthcare professionals since the beginning of the pandemic, putting extra pressure on already overloaded healthcare professionals. The collective agreement must include all the leverage necessary to tackle the healthcare professional shortage, otherwise efforts to reverse it will prove futile. It’s a collective issue and concerns all parliamentarians.

“Healthcare professionals are fed up with their professions not getting due recognition and not receiving appropriate pay for their expertise and level of professional responsibility. They are completely tired of the code of silence that keeps them from denouncing unsafe practices for their patients. They demand immediate interventions to stop the dangerous practice of mandatory overtime, as well as a robust workforce attraction and retention plan. The success of the post-pandemic plan to resume activities depends on it. But the government is still not hearing them. Concluding negotiations for the collective agreement is the first step. How does the government expect to commit to resuming surgeries and other services in the fall without a robust recruitment plan?” 

Nancy Bédard, President, Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec–FIQ.