Quebec labour tribunal orders nurses’ union to stop threatening mass resignation – Montreal
A Quebec labor court has ruled that it is illegal for the Quebec nurses’ union to threaten to announce mass resignations of hundreds of its members as a pressure tactic.
In a ruling released Saturday, the Labor Management Court ordered the Maurice and Center du Quebec branches of the Federation Interprofessionnel de la Santé du Quebec union to stop encouraging mass resignations. I was. Services to which residents are entitled. “
The court noted that the union is working to gather signatures of 500 nurses who are ready to resign over the Maurice Center du Quebec regional health authority’s schedule change.
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Workers who have read the decision have also refused to enter some data into patient files.
In a written decision, Judge Miriam Bedard ordered the union and its members to cease both pressure tactics that could harm essential health services.
Bedard ordered union members “not to resign for the purpose of participating in fundraising efforts and to withdraw any resignations offered in the context of this pressure tactic.” You are also instructed to enter the data correctly.
The union argues that the decision to resign is a protected individual right and cannot be prohibited.
Bedard, however, ruled that the threat of resignation in this case was not a personal decision but a “collective action” aimed at paralyzing services. It is stated that a resignation will only be submitted if a resignation has been made, and union members have agreed to respect the seniority of the resigning colleague.
It also says that people who are submitting a letter of resignation are likely not actually going to resign.
“This resignation process is more like a strike in disguise,” Bedard wrote.
Bedard also ordered unions to show “immediately and publicly” whether they were willing to comply.
The union wrote on its Facebook page that it was “disappointed but not surprised” by the decision, adding that it would discuss the matter at its general meeting on Monday.
The union also held a rally outside a Drummondville hospital on Sunday to protest what it described as an employer’s “unilateral decision to change his employment contract.”
In a statement posted on its website, the union said workers “will not be allowed to be intimidated or silenced (using labor courts) by oppressive employers.”
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