This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
As the 1972 Common Front celebrates its 50e anniversary, the three major labor federations in Quebec, the CSQ, the CSN and the FTQ, have decided to return to the negotiating table together. Accompanied this time by the APTS, they fully intend to weigh in with all their weight.
For François Enault, the nod to the past is obvious: “In 1972, I was six years old, my mother was a teacher and I took part in the assemblies of the first Common Front. The slogan at the time, “We, the ordinary world”, became “We, with one voice”. The first vice-president of the CSN is pleased with the feeling of unity and solidarity that presided over the establishment of a new common front, in connection with the next round of collective agreement negotiations in the public sector.
The current alliance was born from an observation shared by the trade unions. “We saw how the Legault government worked during the last negotiation, with a strategy targeted at certain trades,” recalls Mr. Enault. At the CSN, as throughout the Common Front, we are aware of the danger of negotiating separately. Pending an overall consideration of their difficulties, many public service agents wanted to see a broadly representative force emerge. “Given the current situation, the members felt that our strategy should include a common front,” says Éric Gingras, president of the CSQ.
“You have to go back to 2005 to find the same type of common front, bringing together the three power stations. We can now add the APTS [Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux], which joined as an independent organization,” continues Mr. Gingras. The movement thus represents 420,000 employees working in the education, higher education, health and social services sectors.
Strong demands in a particular context
The consultations held in the fall provided an opportunity to take stock of the situation in the public sector. “We have a lack of personnel in all of our networks, deplores Éric Gingras. This has an impact on working conditions. Aware of the higher rates of pay in the private sector, his CSN counterpart fears that inflation will further encourage public sector employees to look to the other side of the barrier. “The public sector in Quebec is no longer the land of welcome that it could have been in the past,” he asserts.
The Common Front intends to take advantage of the upcoming negotiations to assert its demands, which mainly relate to two aspects: “Our members have expressed a very strong desire to improve their working conditions and remuneration,” reports Mr. Gingras. “Beyond wages, we want the employer to contribute more to group insurance, which is expensive and is only very poorly covered compared to what is done in the private sector,” adds the president of the CSQ. The list of demands points to other important subjects, from retirement to parental rights, including regional disparities and the status of whistleblowers.
In a context of high inflation, wage increases are particularly important, as François Enault points out: “Our flagship demand is an increase of $100 per week during the first year of the new collective agreement. We are also asking for the establishment of a permanent indexation mechanism to counter inflation. “Measures capable of allowing a” catch-up “of the public sector compared to the private sector, according to Mr. Enault. “We must at least be able to protect the purchasing power of our members, insists the leader of the CSN, but also to offer the conditions for their enrichment. Our objective is to ensure that the public sector is attractive and sustainable. »
A platform destined to last?
United around shared demands, the union organizations of the Common Front are distinguished by their ability to intervene on demands specific to the various trades. “The Common Front is demanding major issues, in particular salaries, but it is then our respective federations that negotiate in particular for the job categories they represent,” explains Éric Gingras. The central trade unions are also called upon to take the initiative on certain topics, linked to the sectors or professions that they bring together within them. “The CSQ is the leader in education in Quebec, particularly with the school network, where we have 125,000 members, explains the union leader. We therefore have an important role to play, but always in agreement with the CSN or the FTQ, which also represent colleagues from the same network. The validity of the Common Front rests on this ability to discuss. »
As discussions with the government have not yet begun, could this union alliance constitute a solid basis for future joint negotiations? If the question does not really arise for union leaders, Éric Gingras still has an answer. “We already worked intersyndicale in the past and we will continue to do so. The central unions in Quebec have a will and a desire for social dialogue in order to find solutions with the government. »
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