The nurses and auxiliary nurses will hold a joint protest on Dec. 18, but their unions don't rule out pushing the mobilization farther.
Unhappy with the progress of their negotiations with Héma-Québec, two unions representing nurses and auxiliary nurses have joined forces to present a common front.
The two unions for the provincial blood services provider want the same salary scale as other nurses working in hospitals, clinics, Info-Santé and elsewhere, the unions’ presidents said Thursday.
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They said the salary disparity, over a 33-year career, could reach $11,000 for a nurse and $72,000 for an auxiliary nurse.
For now, this common mobilization takes the form of a joint protest on Dec. 18, but the two presidents don’t rule out pushing the mobilization farther.
The CSQ-affiliated union representing nurses has already held four strike days out of its 10-day strike mandate, said president Nancy Landry. The CSN-affiliated union representing auxiliary nurses is “evaluating” the situation and could propose a new strike mandate, said president Vanessa Poirier.
Any strike would have to meet requirements to ensure essential services are maintained.
The two unions say negotiations are at a standstill and no further meetings are planned.
Héma-Québec did not want to confirm that nurses have lower pay than their colleagues at other establishments.
“There’s a negotiation table, talks are continuing. We will trust the negotiation process. We will let the people around the table talk,” said company spokesperson Josée Larivée. “Héma-Québec will not negotiate in public.”
In November, management published a statement noting that it had reached an agreement with another of its union, the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS), which represents other categories of employees.
“Héma-Québec remains fully resolved to renewing its collective agreements at a reasonable cost for taxpayers and offering to employees the working conditions adapted to today’s reality,” the organization said at the time.
