Quebec nurses’ unions will present an adjusted list of demands on Monday

The Quebec Federation of Healthcare Workers’ Unions (Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec – FIQ) will present an adjusted list of demands on Monday as part of negotiations with Quebec to renew its members’ collective agreements.

The FIQ, which represents 80,000 nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, made the announcement in a press release on Sunday.

FIQ vice-president Jérôme Rousseau, who is jointly responsible for the negotiations, told The Canadian Press early last week that the union already intends to review its demands and reduce its numbers before Sonia LeBel, president of the Ministry of Finance, the unions of the public and semi-public sector to do so.

At the end of September, LeBel reduced her demands to five and called on unions to do the same.

“Basically, very little will change for us. Our adjusted demands show our goodwill, but we are still a long way from reaching an agreement,” Rousseau said in the statement. “The government is offering us a salary increase of 9 percent over five years. In addition, it wants to deprive nurses of any form of stability and treat them as interchangeable chess pieces. We will never accept that.”

FIQ’s demands continue to concern better pay, a better workload and a better work-life balance, the union said in the same document.

Representatives of FIQ-affiliated unions will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to review the revised list of demands and discuss the upcoming strike vote.

The union said Sunday that it would not grant interviews before that meeting.

With information from Lia Lévesque, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 8, 2023.