Canadian nurses have emerged on top in a number of recent struggles.
Last week, Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé, a union
representing around 58,000 nurses in Quebec, reached a new contract
agreement, ending a year of tense negotiations.
The nurses were the last public sector union to reach an agreement with
the provincial government, but Federation president Michèle Boisclair
said that the tone of negotiations changed after Michelle Courchesne was
appointed Treasury Board president last summer.
While Quebec nurses said they decided to hold out in order to get a
better deal, Health Minister Yves Bolduc cautioned that this does not
necessarily mean that nurses got a better deal than other public sector
workers. The agreement in principle will be presented to union delegates
on Thursday and Friday, and to the nurses themselves later this month.
The existing contract expired on March 31.
Quebec nurses will receive wage increases for regular and extra shift
work as part of the tentative deal reached with the government. Later
this month, the union nurses will vote on the agreement in principle
that was just reached. If approved, the nurses would receive a two
percent wage hike, and a 3.45 percent wage increase when they have to
stay late to transition to new nurses. The province also promised to
reduce the use of private nursing agencies.
"For the nurses, they wanted to discuss a few points to improve their
condition. This is what was done. We're very happy we have a good
result," said Health Minister Yves Bolduc. Boisclair also reported that
she is happy with the deal, despite the compromises that were made. She
compared it to making a Christmas list. "You ask 50 toys and you get 10
of them, but you have 10 more than you had before. If we make the
comparison of what we had ... and what we will get, it's a huge
increase," she said.
Last June, the FIQ decided not to join the settlement reached by the
Charest government and the rest of the public sector and negotiations
were suspended though the summer, only resuming in September. Last
month, the FIQ received the support of around 600 organizations from the
health, community and organized labor groups, including two associations
of physicians, general practitioners and specialists, and the Federation
of Quebec Women, and a 124,000-signature petition was submitted to the
government.
Key features of the new contract, according to the union, were:
Nurses will now be compensated for any extra time added to their shifts
spent doing administrative task. A major stumbling block in the talks
was unpaid administrative work nurses were required to do at the end of
their shift.
The government has agreed to reduce its dependence on private agencies
by 40 per cent. The government would call in nurses from private
agencies on a casual basis, as opposed to offering nurses in the public
sector full-time job.
Nurses will be provided more flexibility with work schedules. For
example, a full-time nurse can reduce his or her work week by condensing
his or her hours into four days.
Nurses working evening and night shifts, and shifts in critical care
will receive an increase in bonuses.