The FIQ nurses union cannot ask its members to refuse overtime – which they had told them to do as of Thursday – ruled the Tribunal administratif du travail.
In a decision handed down Monday afternoon, the Tribunal ordered the FIQ to inform its 80,000 members that they must not stop working overtime and that nurses will be required to work their normal shifts as usual.
Administrative Judge Myriam Bédard declared that the concerted action by the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, scheduled to begin on Thursday, “risks prejudicing or is likely to prejudice a service to which the public is entitled.”
Last Wednesday, the Tribunal heard on this subject from the Conseil pour la protection des malades, which was concerned about the repercussions on patients of nurses’ refusal to work overtime.
At the end of August, in a bid to increase pressure on the government to renew its collective agreements, the FIQ had announced that it would ask its members to refuse overtime as of September 19.
It should be noted that the FIQ already has a strike mandate, which it could theoretically reactivate, while providing essential services.
The Tribunal had already handed down several rulings on essential services in this context. FIQ members had already walked off the job for several days last November and December.
The FIQ is still studying the Tribunal’s ruling and will be issuing comments shortly they said.
Proposal under study
In the meantime, the Quebec government and the FIQ are hoping to reach a settlement through conciliation, which resumed earlier this month.
On Sunday, the conciliator in charge of the case submitted a proposed agreement to FIQ members. On Monday and Tuesday, some 450 delegates from the various FIQ unions met to study the proposal.
The content of the proposal has not been revealed publicly, but the expected mobility of nurses was the main point of contention and the primary reason for the members’ rejection of an initial agreement in principle last spring.