At the beginning of November 2021, Minister Dubé had sparked a debate by criticizing unions for not taking part in efforts to recruit nurses in the health network.
I don’t think unions are working together at the level of their role at the moment that they should have, he said. I think our conversations with them over the last few weeks have shown us that they have given this more thought than the union representatives, who, among other things, do not have access to the bonus.
A $1 billion recruitment and retention plan was unveiled weeks earlier, including a bonus of up to $15,000.
In the days following Minister Dubé’s statement, many health network unions, including the FIQ, the CSQ and the CSN, had lodged a complaint with the TAT, accusing the government of violating the working conditions of the workers they represent during the negotiation of the collective agreement 2021-2023.
The unions claimed they were never consulted prior to the announcement of these $1 billion measures, even though several of them had just reached agreements in principle to extend their collective bargaining agreement.
However, in a 50-page decision issued on Tuesday, Judge Myriam Bédard of the Administrative Labor Court (Department of Labor Relations) found that the Government of Quebec’s Employers’ Negotiation Committee for the Health and Social Services Sector Direction des relations professionnelles Conseil du trésor and the Minister of Health and Social Affairs violated Articles 12 and 53 of the Labor Code by obstructing the union work of the plaintiff associations and by failing to negotiate in good faith.
Specifically, the judge ordered them to stop obstructing union activities and malicious negotiations, and to post the decision on the Department of Health’s website.
According to our information, a joint press release from the national unions will be published on Wednesday.