Quebec’s largest nurses’ union cannot go forward with its plan to forego working overtime hours later this week, the province’s labour tribunal has ruled.
The Fédération interprofesionelle de la santé du Québec, also known as the FIQ, had planned to stop working overtime hours as of Thursday, as a pressure tactic for its labour dispute with the Legault government.
The FIQ, which represents about 80,000 health-care workers and is made up largely of nurses, practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, has been without a collective agreement since March 2023. It was one of several major unions that went on strike last fall, forcing school closures and health services to be scaled back, and remains the only one that is still without a new contract.
In its ruling Monday, the Tribunal administratif du travail said the plan to stop working overtime hours is a “concerted action” that is “susceptible to causing a prejudice to a service the population is entitled to.”
According to the ruling, the FIQ disputed that claim, stating that their pressure tactic would only affect administrative duties and only prejudice their employer, not the patients. The union said the pressure tactic would not involve overtime hours that are mandatory in the health-care sector, commonly referred to in French by the acronym TSO.
The tribunal was unconvinced.
It pointed out the fact that the nurses’ union’s call to action regarding overtime hours failed to specify if it applied to TSO, or other work hours. It said such ambiguity could cause confusion.
As part of the ruling, the tribunal also ordered the FIQ to go back on the statement it made on Aug. 30, when it launched its initial call to members to refuse working overtime hours.
In April of this year, the Quebec government and the union had an agreement in principle, but members rejected it.
Issues around staff retention and mobility are among the major sticking points in negotiations.
Negotiations are stuck around the government’s demand that nurses, on a voluntary basis, be free to move from one health-care facility to another to address needs in the system where they arise.
But the FIQ disagrees with the proposal, saying it disregards nurses’ expertise and treats them like interchangeable pawns.