Examiner, March 28, 2010 On Friday, March 26th, 2010, Quebec’s largest nurse union discontinued negotiations accusing the provincial government of contempt. “The contempt has gone on long enough and we can no longer continue with a government that is only proposing the pure and simple degradation of working conditions”, said Regine Laurent, president of the “Federation interprofessionnelle de la sante du Québec”. FIQ is demanding a shorter work week, converging permanent status to part-time positions and an end to mandatory overtime. The government declared it cannot afford the $2 billion figure that will result if union petitions are granted. ... Nurse

Montréal Gazette, March 27, 2010 Montréal – Accusing the government of contempt, Quebec’s largest nurses union said Friday it has broken off talks as Quebec tries to sign a collective agreement with its public sector workers. “The contempt has gone on long enough, and we can no longer continue with a government whose only proposition is the pure and simple degradation of the working conditions of the 58,000 nursing professionals we represent,” the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec said in a statement. The federation said it has a mandate to demand mediation, but will confer with delegates in the coming days to determine its next step. ... Québec

CTV, February 4, 2010 A group of Quebec health professionals was welcomed back from Haiti Thursday after spending the last two weeks working almost round the clock to help victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake. The 22 doctors and nurses returned to Montreal around 3 AM Thursday, energized by what they were able to contribute to the country where 200,000 people died. The volunteers were sent to the Caribbean island nation by the Center for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI), which organizes humanitarian projects around the world. ... Doctors

CBC News, May 8, 2009 Two months after cancelling summer bonuses for nurses and health-care staff in Quebec, Health Minister Yves Bolduc has changed his mind, saying the bonuses are needed, but with some strings attached. In a meeting with the nurses Friday morning, Bolduc said nurses will have to work a minimum number of hours to get the bonuses. For the past eight years the government has been paying bonuses to nurses and other health-care workers to encourage them to work extra hours during the summer. ... Québec

Provincial government is looking for ways to ease workload, health minister says. Montréal Gazette, November 5, 2008 Nurses in Quebec must get used to the hard reality of mandatory overtime for the foreseeable future, provincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc warned yesterday. "If it's a choice between a rupture of service (to patients) or mandatory overtime, I'll choose not to have a rupture of service," he told reporters in Montreal after addressing the Quebec Order of Nurses' annual convention. Bolduc alluded briefly to the problem of mandatory overtime in his speech. ... Get

Province's 'old bureaucratic machine' under fire over departing personnel. Montréal Gazette, November 4, 2008 With the province facing an increasingly severe shortfall of hospital nurses, it's time to staunch the bleeding of the profession, the head of the Quebec Order of Nurses said yesterday. Gyslaine Desrosiers, newly elected to her ninth mandate as the head the professional order representing nurses, yesterday called the provincial health department an old bureaucratic machine. ... Staunch

CBC News, June 17, 2008 The Quebec government will spend $80 million on measures aimed at offsetting a chronic shortage of nurses in the provinces, Health Minister Philippe Couillard announced Tuesday. The money will be used to buy updated medical equipment for hospitals and adjust schedules so that nurses work fewer weekends. New nurses will also get more on-the-job support and mentoring, Couillard said. "We have a window of opportunity now to deeply transform the way people work and concentrate nursing ... on its true professional expertise and bringing new people into the team ...," he said in Quebec City Tuesday. ... Quebec

Montreal Gazette, June 30, 2007 Health Minister Philippe Couillard announced yesterday bonuses of between 7 per cent and 10 per cent for emergency room and intensive-care unit nurses. The bonuses, intended to discourage absenteeism in the summer months, will be in force from July 1 until Sept. 8. "We recognize that nurses practising in intensive care units and emergency rooms work in a context where the pressure is constant and the responsibilities important," Couillard said. The bonuses, which vary according to how busy the hospital workplace is, will cost the province $6.4 million. ... Nurses

CBC News, June 14, 2007 Emergency room nurses at Gatineau's Hull hospital refused to work for two hours Wednesday night to emphasize concerns over understaffing, and the head of their union says more protests could be held if the hospital doesn't get more nurses. The hospital cafeteria sit-in began after only seven of 11 nurses showed up for their shifts, on a night when the emergency room was at 200 per cent of capacity. The nurses said the level of understaffing was unacceptable and dangerous for patients. The protest ended after day-shift nurses agreed to come in and work overtime. Élizabeth Leduc, who heads the union representing nurses at Hull hospital, said she can't guarantee it will be the last such work refusal. ... »

• Login to post comments
• Read more

CBC News, June 5, 2007 Nurses in western Quebec say they're encouraged by the provincial government's promise of a pay increase in an effort to entice them to stay in the area. For years, they've been lured to higher-paying jobs in nearby Ottawa, leading to a chronic shortage that Health Minister Philippe Couillard said his government is taking measures to address. Elizabeth Leduc, president of the Outaouais nurses' union, praised the initiative on Tuesday. "It's not the first time we tried to negotiate something to help us keep afloat," she said. "But the other times ... there was never any financial help to come with that." The union estimates that there are 275 unfilled vacancies for nurses and 122 vacancies for auxiliary nurses in the Outaouais region, and it blames this on the availability of better-paid jobs at hospitals in Ottawa, such as the francophone Montfort. ... Higher

CBC News, January 30, 2007 Montreal faces severe hospital nursing staff shortages that will only get worse if there isn't a hiring blitz soon, warns a Quebec nurses union. The province is short more than 1,500 nurses, a problem mostly concentrated in the greater Montreal region, according to the Quebec Health Ministry. The union says Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal needs about 168 nurses, leaving the staff overtaxed and vulnerable to burnout. ... Nurse