‘It doesn’t fix the problem’: Nurses pan Quebec’s bonus offer, say real issue is mandatory overtime

Sandra Gagnon stated she acquired an excited cellphone name from her mother final week, after Quebec Premier François Legault  stated he would give full-time nurses a $15,000 bonus to maintain them from quitting the general public system.

Gagnon, nonetheless, was much less excited than her mother. The bonus is bittersweet, she stated in a latest interview, and it makes her surprise how a lot her well being is value.

“It’s so nice, $15,000, however what would you like me to do with it?” Gagnon stated. “I received’t have the power and well being to spend it.”

On Sept. 23, Legault unveiled what he referred to as a “mini revolution” within the well being system, asserting $1 billion to seduce nurses to remain in a community that’s lacking greater than 4,000 of them.

Full-time nurses within the public system would obtain one-time bonuses of $15,000, as would part-time nurses who change to full-time work, Legault stated. Nurses who’ve stop the general public health-care community and return full time would get $12,000, whereas full-time nurses in 5 areas which might be hit notably laborious by shortages would get $18,000, the premier stated.

Many nurses and different health-care employees had been fast to slam the plan on social media, calling Legault’s so-called mini revolution a short lived bandage on a difficulty that requires critical surgical work. The cash is welcome, they stated, nevertheless it doesn’t resolve the problem of working circumstances, notably the dreaded obligatory time beyond regulation that public-sector nurses are subjected to.

Retired nurse Louise Martel says the cash just isn’t sufficient to convey her again into the system, as a result of it solely applies to individuals who return full time.

“You can’t ask a retired particular person to come back again and work full time — it doesn’t make any sense,” Martel, 58, who retired in August, stated in a latest interview.

“We aren’t going to throw ourselves into the mouth of the wolf.”

Martel, from Baie-Comeau, Que., northeast of Quebec Metropolis, stated when she heard rumours concerning the authorities’s announcement, she was tempted. She stated she had thought of returning a couple of times per week, realizing how determined hospitals are for employees.

However she stated when she heard the official announcement — that the bonuses would solely apply to full-time nurses — it felt like a joke.

“I labored as a nurse for 37 years, however actually it was greater than 45 years if you happen to have in mind time beyond regulation,” Martel stated.

One other downside with the bonuses is that they’re taxable, she stated, including that near half the promised quantity will go proper again to the federal government. “The bonus ought to be non-taxable — or give us a automotive that’s value $15,000.”

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Even with the taxes, Gagnon stated she received’t refuse the additional money.

“Christmas is coming, I’m not going to say, ‘no, maintain your cash,’ nevertheless it doesn’t repair the issue and that’s what we’ve been asking for therefore lengthy,” Gagnon stated, including that she often finally ends up working near 60 hours per week at her Montreal-area hospital due to obligatory time beyond regulation.

Gagnon, who has labored as a nurse for 25 years, stated it’s nearly unattainable to refuse time beyond regulation, including that the federal government ought to have made fixing that concern its precedence.

“Nurses ought to have time to deal with sufferers like in the event that they had been their dad and mom, however we are able to’t do it anymore,” Gagnon stated. “Why didn’t the federal government ask us what we wanted? What we’re lacking?

“There are nurses who know when their shifts begin however can by no means make sure when they’re ending,” Gagnon stated. “It’s not uncommon that I function for 16 or 17 hours with lower than half-hour to eat.”

READ MORE: Quebec nurses need better working conditions, according to report

Quebec’s plan proposes to scale back obligatory time beyond regulation, however not eradicate it. Legault stated the monetary incentives had been just one a part of the plan, including that the cash is essential to forestall extra nurses from quitting or shifting to the personal sector.

“Cash received’t repair all the issues, however we predict it would assist us to curb the workers scarcity within the quick time period,” Legault stated in a press release. “Now we have an obligation to succeed with every little thing you do for us. We owe you that.”

In the meantime, whereas nurses had been getting extra money, different health-care employees stated they felt not noted.

Shortly after studying of Legault’s provide to nurses, a significant union representing health-care employees corresponding to medical technicians, stated it halted the voting course of on the federal government’s newest contract provide.

Union interim president Robert Comeau stated the premier’s announcement angered his members, as a result of they had been allegedly instructed by the federal government in June there was no cash left for the general public sector.

“All the things has modified,” Comeau stated in a latest interview, including the members he represents additionally work in sectors dealing with labour shortages. His members work “in the identical rooms” as nurses receiving as much as $18,000 in bonuses, he stated.

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Peter Gleeson, a medical imaging technologist in Montreal, stated he and his colleagues are the “eyes of the hospital” and deserve the identical stage of respect as nurses. Gleeson stated he seems like there’s a lack of expertise among the many public about how intertwined hospital employees are.

“There’s hardly a prognosis made with out medical imaging of some type,” Gleeson stated in a latest interview, including that the provide to the nurses has made him really feel “invisible.”

“There’s a wide range of wants and realities within the health-care community career,” Gleeson stated. “It may be an exquisite and gratifying career, working as a workforce, however there’s quite a lot of frustration that comes with it too.”

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