Medical specialists not greedy, says union president
Medical specialists are far from greedy when it comes to their remuneration, says the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), making a number of concessions in the contract they just signed with Quebec.
That was the message the FMSQ wanted to get across Thursday at a news conference in Montreal after several days of silence.
President Diane Francoeur and her team did not deny the numbers — an increase of $2 billion by 2023 and $480 million retroactively — but the FMSQ had a different way of presenting the figures made public by the treasury board.
Certain amounts describe government spending, while others are spread over time, retroactive or spelled out in previous contracts, said the FMSQ director of legal affairs and negotiations, Sylvain Bellavance.
The organization says its members will have no increase for eight years, from 2015 to 2023. They will get a 5.2 per cent increase, or $250 million retroactively to April 1 2017, as well as certain retroactive payments for doctors who were working in 2016-2017.
The specialists made several concessions, the FMSQ claims, such as giving up a clause that would have given them the same increases as the public sector and postponing until 2027 certain amounts owed from previous contracts.
Presse Canadienne