Hema-Quebec nurses and nursing assistants, members of the CSN and CSQ unions, are planning to demonstrate in Montreal and Quebec City on Sunday.
The members of the Syndicat des infirmières et infirmières auxiliaires de Héma-Québec (CSN) and the Syndicat du personnel infirmier de Héma-Québec (SPI-CSQ) are demanding salary parity with their colleagues in the public network.
They have been without a work contract for nearly four years, according to their respective unions, and are criticizing "their employer's lack of respect in the context of negotiations for the renewal of their collective agreement."
According to the CSN and the SPI-CSQ, the nurses have received "no salary increase since 2018, while the CEO of Hema-Quebec has received a 30 per cent salary increase between 2019 and 2020," which the unions describe as shocking in the circumstances.
The CSQ union has already held four strike days within its 10-day mandate, said CSQ president Nancy Landry.
"The CSN union was then evaluating the possibility of adopting a new strike mandate," said president of the nursing assistants' union (CSN) Vanessa Poirier.
As this is the health sector, any strike is subject to the essential services provisions of the Labour Code.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 18, 2022.
