More part-time employees in the past five years

Hugo Duchaine

Tuesday, February 6, 2018 23:27

UPDATE
Tuesday, February 6, 2018 23:27

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The four nurses on the five who have started to work in the past year have only found a part-time job, laments the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ).

“This is really huge “, said president Lucie Tremblay, adding that new nurses find themselves in a precarious situation.

Yet, five years ago, she adds, it is only half of the new nurses that came on the market in part-time work.

“We have to ask questions,” says Ms. Tremblay. This increase ” significant “, she said, does not encourage nurses to stay in their profession.

Nursing workforce

Moreover, the statistical Report on the nursing workforce 2016-2017 of the OIIQ also shows that several regions have lost nursing positions to full-time benefit part-time jobs. The percentage of full-time positions has declined at the provincial level.

In Montréal for example, there are about 100 nurses less full-time in 2012, but nearly 700 more nurses part-time. The Mauricie region has lost approximately 80 nurses (full-time, so you end up with 80 more part-time for five years.

This is an abnormal situation and is worrying for the treasurer of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), Roberto Bomba, especially that his union advocates for more of part-time positions become full-time.

The situation may improve in the near future according to the spokesperson of the integrated Centre of health and social services (CISSS) of the Mauricie region, Guillaume Cliche, which says that up to 500 part-time positions will be offered to full-time nurses who so desire, in particular.

Mothers in tears

These figures are known at the moment where the lack of nursing staff, mandatory overtime, and the distress of the nurses are at the heart of the news.

“I was a witness of what the staff could endure […], I’ve seen people working two days in a row, pregnant women, women having to return to work [in spite of a preventive withdrawal] and mothers with the tears flowing on the phone with their child because they have to stay working,” laments elsewhere Kathie Poliquin, a patient admitted to hospital for almost 10 days in the hospital corridor of Terrebonne.