(Montreal) Several Quebec government departments and agencies, such as the Régie de l’assurance maladie and the Société de l’assurance-automobile, will be affected by a one-day strike on Wednesday.
Posted at 10:47 a.m.
Some 23,000 members of the Union of Public and Parapublic Service of Quebec (SFPQ) will then hold their first day of strike, starting at 12:01 a.m. next night, March 30.
The members of the SFPQ have already given themselves a 10-day strike mandate to be held at the appropriate time. They have still not renewed their 2020-2023 collective agreement, unlike other unions in the public and parapublic sectors.
These are administrative support employees in the various ministries, as well as in government agencies, in particular computer technicians, office workers, employees in call centres.
About 4,000 of the members of the SFPQ will, however, provide essential services. These people assigned to essential services are, for example, court clerks and ushers in the courts and agents who issue social assistance checks, said Christian Daigle, general president of the SFPQ, in an interview on Tuesday.
The dispute with the Government of Quebec concerns compensation. Mr. Daigle says salaries are low in the public service, to the point where recruiting and even retaining staff is difficult.