MONTREAL -- A union representing 5,000 nurses, licensed practical nurses and respiratory therapists in Quebec deplores that the Francois Legault government is not seeking to give a little oxygen to these health workers, despite the trying year they have just spent fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federation de la Sante du Québec (FSQ), affiliated with the Centrale des unions du Quebec (CSQ), announced this weekend the rejection of the global settlement offer submitted by government representatives.

Union representatives spoke of the great dissatisfaction of its members who did not succumb to pressure tactics.

"We are not there yet. Today, what we want to say publicly is that the government's offer made to the FSQ is unacceptable," said CSQ president Sonia Ethier. "People are very angry with the government's offer and it will not solve the problems in the health network."

FSQ-CSQ president Claire Montour was unimpressed the slow pace of the negotiations.

"In 16 months, we haven't even settled a single article," she said, referring to the union demands filed in November 2019.

Montour recognizes that the management of the pandemic slowed down negotiations at a certain point between the parties, it nevertheless finds it embarrassing and inappropriate on the part of the government to ask for "concessions" from people "who have not even had the right to their vacation."

She explained that the negotiations are stumbling in particular on the patient-nurse ratios and on the burden of the tasks needed to be accomplished.

"Every day, we see in social networks and in the media someone who cries about their working conditions, who resigns," said the FSQ-CSQ president. "That we do not want to discuss the burden of the tasks, the means to be taken and the mechanisms to be put in place? How can we not talk about it and find solutions in the collective agreement."

To illustrate the portrait of the situation as they perceive it, Ethier offered some statistics on sick leave in the health network.

"In 2018-2019, there was $700 million in salary insurance for the entire health and social services network," she said. "The year before, it was $500 million. It is growing. The world is getting sicker and sicker. This represents over 10,000 jobs, 10,000 people who are sick and it is not with this offer that is made that it will resolve the basic problems."

The two women, therefore, ask the government to review its offer since it has "a duty to negotiate."

WORK-FAMILY BALANCE THROUGH PART-TIME WORK

Montour believes that Quebec must also take into account the work that is done part-time in the health sector, a choice made by a greater number of nurses, nursing assistants and respiratory therapists to try to reconcile work and family.

"The government is promising bonuses to make full-time jobs more attractive, but it won't be enough," she said. "What it doesn't seem to want to understand is that part-time positions are the way many workers have found to save their lives in the current environment."

She also wants bonuses for part-time employees who "perform the same tasks" as full-time employees, who are offered them.

Montour, however, is reaching out to Quebec to negotiate again.

"We have solutions and our world has identified them, and we are in a hurry to put them in place!" she said. "After the pandemic in the health network, we will have a lot of work to do, but the staff are down. They can't take it any longer!"

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2021.