Quebec has hired 15 nurses and 8 beneficiary attendants for its new “public flying team”, which must help hospitals in regions in difficulty. A first nurse was dispatched to the North Shore on Tuesday.
Posted at 2:11 p.m.
Updated at 2:47 p.m.
According to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), more than 120 interviews are “planned in the coming days” in order to recruit more nurses and beneficiary attendants within this floating team. More than 500 resumes are also being analyzed.
For the moment, only one nurse has been deployed on the ground. The CISSS de la Côte-Nord refuses to reveal in which hospital it works.
Other members of the flying team will be dispatched “gradually” to the North Shore, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Outaouais, indicates the MSSS. “Needs from one region to another vary greatly from day to day,” we write.
Ongoing negotiations with unions
The Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN) affirms that threads still remain to be tied regarding the flying team, but that it does not want to be “an obstacle to its deployment”. The union therefore continues negotiations with Quebec while reinforcements are sent.
The FTQ is also continuing its discussions with the government. She wants her members to be assigned to the region “as early as next week”. “What we have to negotiate is the place of accommodation, how people will be transported, the duration of the assignments,” lists Karine Cabana, coordinator of the social affairs sector of CUPE, affiliated with the FTQ.
According to her, accommodation is “an issue” in remote areas. “All the hotels and motels are booked by tourists,” says Karine Cabana. “That’s why we won’t be able to send a large number of people [en même temps]. We will try to send some as accommodation becomes available. »
Employees of the flying team will receive the salary provided for in the Common Front collective agreement. They will be entitled to a daily flat rate of $100 if they travel 100 km or more from their home. It now remains to be seen whether they will obtain an additional bonus, indicates the president of the FSSS-CSN, Réjean Leclerc.
One thing is certain, the FSSS-CSN wants to request temporary bonuses for the staff of health establishments who live in the regions where the flying team is deployed. According to Réjean Leclerc, this could be an amount granted when the employee’s availability is increased.
If Quebec does not agree to this request, it fears that the arrival of these reinforcements will have a “demobilizing effect” on the employees already there. “People will welcome staff paid differently from them, who have bonuses,” explains Réjean Leclerc.
