We turn now to the nurses, who have joined the other unions in protest against the wage cut and their demands for good governance practices to be institutionalized.
Yesterday, we showed you what the President of the Nurses Association had to say about the memberships plan to implement a go-slow.
Well, the nurses showed up for work today, and reports we've received indicate that they did just as they said they would. They provided the least amount of effort for the workday to ensure that they weren't jeopardizing patient care while making it clear to the government that they mean business.
Today, we spoke to their ministerial boss, Michel Chebat, about the go-slow. He said that all essential public health services, including the ongoing COVID 19 vaccination campaign have not been affected - and if they are, he has a plan for that:
Hon. Michel Chebat - Minister of Health and Wellness
"This is a situation that we've been monitoring very closely with all of our regions. The report we've had up to this morning is that all of our nurses are, in fact at work. But, the ministry does have a contingency plan, in case that does not happen. I want to highlight, and I want to emphasize and remind you that we are in a pandemic, and vaccinations are a part of our response to the pandemic. And so, vaccinations do constitute an essential service. I can also assure you that today, are being carried out."
"We do have a contingency plan in case the nurses would decide that they would not carry out the vaccination exercise, Marisol, but so far, the nurses are carrying out that vaccination exercise. And so, we're confident that this process will continue."
"Part of the initial oral discussion with the unions - now, I'm not a part of that negotiating team. Please, I want to make that clear. But, part of the discussions in the initial phase was to exclude the healthcare workers from the 10% cut. However, it is my understanding that this proposal was rejected by the unions."
"We have been trying our best to understand the issues that are facing the nurses, and how best to resolve them. We're dealing with the issue of overtime, to make sure that if there is any overtime pending, that we can find the resources to pay them. I can tell you that tomorrow, Nurses Week begins, and we're looking at things such as the uniform allowances that they've been entitled to, to see how we can best get that to them. I know that they haven't got that in over a year or so, so, that's a concern for them, especially now with this pandemic, where they're working a lot of overtime."
"Everyone has a right, freedom of expression, and the freedom to strike. Our concern is to make sure that the services are being provided to the public, and so, to extent that we want to make sure that our staff is in place. Otherwise, we respect everybody's right to strike."
