Nursing unions calling out Quebec for lack of proper consultation as staffing shortages remain

MONTREAL -

The nursing and cardio-respiratory care personnel union is calling out the government for a "lack of collaboration to agree on solutions that could improve working conditions" as staffing shortages continue.

The union says the meetings in the working committee to find solutions are going one way with the union proposing solutions to the staffing shortage without the ministry responding.

"It is a major crisis, the situation was terrible before the pandemic and now with the pandemic, things have been made incredibly worse," said CUPE spokesperson Sebastien Goulet in a news release. "The government listened to our propositions, did not answer anything and went away with that and that's pretty much the end of it, which is not a true dialogue, which is not finding solutions."

The union says Health and Social Services Minister Christian Dubé and his ministry has kept the union out of discussions, and that "he has preferred coercion, division and threats, rather than engaging in the legitimate process of consultation to achieve his objectives."

The union listed in the release a selection of the ministry's 155 decrees since the province's health-care emergency declaration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the union argues has not produced positive results.

"Many of the measures are also in direct contradiction with the new labour contract," a union news release reads. "A collaborative effort in the implementation of these measures could have prevented them from being received rather coldly in the field."

Opposition party Quebec Solidaire announced its own plan to support health-care workers in the public sector.

"What we are proposing today is a three-year plan, with concrete means, to make sure in three years we won't need private agencies anymore," said QS spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. "Our system has become dependant, it's not easy to break such a dependance."

"It's all about respect for nurses and people working in the health public sector," said QS health critic Vincent Marissal.

Union leaders say current working conditions for nurses have led to a decrease in people going into the profession right when they're needed most.

However, John Abbott College has not seen enrollment levels change.

"They've actually been quite stable, our numbers, unlike the french CEGEP it's true," said John Abbott nursing department's Gloria Jaramillo.

Jaramillo added that John Abbott works hard to retain and prepare students for a demanding profession.

Unions, however, just want a better future for their workers.

"We are afraid they [nurses] are struggling to remain effective, to remain healthy and being able to provide the care the population needs," said Goulet.