Quebec Minister François Legault dubbed the reveal “a small revolution” when speaking about the newly tabled plan to address the severe nursing shortage, during his Sept. 23 press release.

According to Legault, no organization can be efficiently administered when 40 per cent of their employee base is comprised of part-time workers. This issue, the minister said, is at the root of the problem, but this problem prompted other chronic issues such as compulsory overtime and relying on private agencies to alleviate the severe nurse shortage.

Legault stated that his government knew they had to modify the collective agreement in conjunction with union demands petitioning for better work conditions and modified salaries. But the pandemic he said, has aggravated the problem of striking a balance that would offer nurses a better family and personal life. The agreement would end mandatory overtime requirements and offer nurses better scheduling options as far as working evening, nights and weekends shifts go.

The challenge in the interim, according to the Minister, is to reorganize and accelerate the process with the proposed bonuses, all while making sure not to penalize the network of nurses who did remain through the chaos. Therefore, those who stayed will receive a bonus of $15,000.

Other amounts being offered are as follows:

Current part time nurses willing to become
full time will also receive $15,000.
Retired nurses, or those who left because they
were exhausted and are now willing
to return will receive $12,000.
Nurses in the Outaouais, Abitibi/Temiscamingue,
Cote Nord, North of Quebec, and Gaspesie/L’Iles
de-la-Madeleine regions will receive $18,000, and
part time workers willing to come back
full time will get $15,000.

They will obtain one-third of the money now and the remaining two-thirds on Oct. 31 2022, according to Legault, who added that in theory the more people they recruit, the better the work conditions will become. He also emphasized that the better scheduling options will initially be offered to the nurses in the current public network before it is offered to those who migrated to private agencies and are returning.

Salary augmentations for evening, night and weekend shifts have also been negotiated for an increase of 10 per cent, 12 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

To address complaints that nurses spend a large portion of their time filling out paperwork, the minister stated that 3,000 administrative clerks will also be hired. This will subsequently free up time that will be spent treating patients.

The training of auxiliary nurses will be accelerated, and they will also work on recruiting outside of the province in an effort to hire an additional 4,300 nurses.

The situation justifies the need as exceptional conditions require exceptional solutions, according to Legault who believes these measures (at the cost of $1 billion) will permit the Quebec government to greatly reduce the current problems with its services.

“Our nurses have taken care of us for so long, it is now time to take care of them,” said Legault.

The Quebec government does expect hiccups along the way until they are able to stabilize the system and are able to implement this completely different way of management, concluded the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé.

Josey Bouchard, spokesperson for Pontiac Voice —a group that addresses the concerns affecting people living in Pontiac—says they are dubious about the latest government announcement for the nurses’ bonus.

“We believe that a one year incentive will not resolve the problems plaguing our Health Services. “Most nurses are more preoccupied with working conditions than a bonus. The actual working conditions have made it easy for them to seek employment elsewhere,” she stated.

She adds that the current Ontario working conditions will make it difficult for those who have migrated there to come back to work in Quebec.

“The government is also trying to get nurses working part-time to go full time. Many have chosen to be part-time to have more time with family and friends. We do not think than many will want to trade that for a one year bonus,” said Bouchard.

Being unconvinced that the proposed changes will improve working conditions, Bouchard adds, “We were hoping for better news for our Health services, but our ‘still closed’ obstetrics [department] has shown us that their plans rarely come to fruition.”

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