When Marie-Laure Brisson began her career in medicine
35 years ago, she didn't give much thought to maternity
benefits for physicians. Back then, she concedes, nobody
did. "Medicine was a man's world," Dr Brisson recalls.
Now chief pathologist at Montreal's
Jewish General Hospital and mother of three children
all born during her residency, Dr Brisson has experienced
three decades of evolution for women in medicine. But
to this day, Quebec specialists still don't have any
parental leave benefits.
Not only are they out in the cold
as compared to most of the rest of Canada, they're an
anomaly within their own province. Quebec GPs enjoy
maternity benefits negotiated by the F�d�ration des
m�decins omnipraticiens du Qu�bec (FMOQ), and even residents
now receive benefits, thanks to the F�d�ration des m�decins
r�sidents du Qu�bec (FMRQ).
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One specialist's story
As one of Quebec's specialists,
Dr Elisabeth Banon doesn't have the luxury of
paid maternity leave. What she does have are two
children who were practically born on the job
because of it.
"I worked until literally 12
hours before delivering my daughter in 2001, and
even less time with my son who was born in September,"
recalls the staff psychiatrist at Montreal's Jewish
General Hospital and private practice analyst.
Not only could Dr Banon ill
afford to take a year off without pay, with the
current shortage of psychs in Montreal her patients
couldn't afford to be without her either. Dr Banon
returned to her private patients on a part-time
basis less than four months after giving birth.
"It's very intensive type work, longterm open-ended
psychotherapy," she says. "I believe in what I
do, and I wouldn't want to put these patients
on hold." But this time round she decided to take
a full nine months off from her hospital duties.
"I decided, screw the money. I'm turning 39 next
week, we're not having a third child, and it's
my last chance to be home with my child."
— B Bowman
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But when it comes to a deal for
specialists, their negotiating body, the F�d�ration
des m�decins sp�cialistes du Qu�bec (FMSQ), has been
slow to act. Dr Brisson and other Quebec specialists
hope this imbalance will be rectified when negotiations
with the province resume this month, especially in light
of the new parental leave deal struck between Quebec
and Ottawa, which includes a provision for the self-employed.
PUSHING
THE ENVELOPE
"I've been involved in various talks about it," says
Dr Brisson. "It will be on the table again this week,
but the details of how this will be achieved will not
be discussed at the table before March." All Dr Brisson
knows for sure is that any package will have to be negotiated
within the provincial government's "global fee for service
envelope" and maternity leave isn't the only area where
they're being shortchanged. Wage parity with the rest
of Canada's specialists is also a huge issue of concern.
That said, Dr Brisson hopes maternity leave for some
isn't sacrificed to the larger issue of wage equity
for all.
"I think it's only fair that some
of the money being negotiated is actually used to cover
pregnancy. We're not talking six months even —
15 weeks seems a reasonable place to start." Reasonable,
she says, because more than 30% of Quebec's specialists
are women.
FFS
GPs DEMAND MORE
Quebec specialists aren't the only ones who will be
taking another look at maternity benefits in upcoming
negotiations. The FMOQ will soon be reassessing its
own benefits plan, which currently offers different
packages to salaried versus fee-for-service (FFS) GPs,
negotiated in 1981 and 1996 respectively.
Supporting their physicians with
maternity leave is a no-brainer, according to the FMOQ's
Dr Jean Rodrigue. "The main reason we negotiated this
benefit is the feminization of our profession," says
Dr Rodrigue, adding that as of last year women accounted
for 43% of all Quebec GPs. "One of our objectives for
the next negotiation is to obtain equity between fee-for-service
mothers and salaried mothers." (See the accompanying
sidebar for the current parental leave situation in
Quebec and the rest of Canada.)
Although salaried GPs are currently
getting a richer deal than FFS docs, they're by far
in the minority. According to Dr Rodrigue, there are
roughly 800 GPs working in Quebec who are salaried either
partially or completely, as opposed to 7,400 GPs who
work FFS.
"Our objective for maternity and
adoption leave is to obtain equity between salaried
and FFS GPs, mainly 20 weeks of maternity leave and
the possibility to benefit from the parental leave provincial
program," says Dr Rodrigue. "Our general agreement between
Quebec GPs and the provincial government ended March
2004 and we will soon begin negotiations for its renewal."
According to stats from the Collège
des médecins du Québec, women currently
number almost 35% of the province's doctors and recent
med school admissions are at, or passing the 50% mark.
Next issue: More on how the
new government plan will affect negotiations.
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