Quebec plans to make private nursing agencies less attractive to keep workers in the public sector

But according to Radio-Canada, this week the government plans to force private agencies to fill less favorable shifts, such as evening, night and weekend shifts, a decision that has divided some in the health care system. .

“It does not make sense that I have better working conditions than a public sector employee, but the solution is not to remove these conditions which in fact keep many nurses in the profession,” he said. said Alex Magdzinski, private sector nurse in the province and vice-president of the Association des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec.

Magdzinski previously worked in the public sector, but left in November 2020 to work for a private nursing agency in Nunavik, northern Quebec, due to the flexibility it offered.

He says that instead of trying to make the private system less desirable, the government should try to improve the public system.

“Really looking at what can be done with schedules and flexibility in the public sector is more what the government should be doing rather than trying to eliminate agencies from having this flexibility for their employees,” he said. he declares.

He added conditions such as self-scheduling, better nurse-to-patient ratios and no forced overtime would help retain and entice nurses back into the public sector.

Nurses union in favor, demands ban on forced occupational therapists

The largest nurses union in the province, theQubec Interprofessional Health Federation(FIQ), is in favor of the government’s plan to prioritize nurses in the public sector, even if it believes that this should have happened sooner.

“It is the nurses in the public sector that we have been asking for a long time to put their lives aside, so it is right that we prioritize them before those in the private sector,” said Patrick Guay, vice-president of the FIQ. .

Guay said the government should also focus on eliminating forced overtime. This weekend, the FIQ took matters into its own hands, with more than 30,000 of its members in ten regions refusing to work compulsory overtime.

The union also sent formal notices to local and provincial health authorities, giving them a deadline on November 15 to eliminate the practice under penalty of prosecution by the FIQ.

This priority is shared by registered nurse and president of the Association des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec, Natalie Stake-Doucet, who says forced overtime is the main problem.

“[It’s] a management problem, not a nursing shortage problem. This is a problem that we have had for 25 years, no matter how many nurses we have in the public health system, ”she said.

Quebec Health Minister ChristianDub said he hopes to present concrete measures this week to improve working conditions in the health system. He said the province is considering alternatives to mandatory overtime, but getting rid of it is not something that can be done overnight.

The province says 1,800 nurses have been hired, returned to work or moved to full-time positions in recent weeks after the province pledged financial bonuses of up to $ 18,000 to some nurses. The health ministry says it is in talks with nearly 2,400 other potential candidates.

Dubsaidnurses want to see a culture change on the job and he’s committed to making it happen.