Quebecers stand in solidarity with the union members on strike. But are they unions?
These are two different questions. If Quebecers are sensitive and sympathetic to the cause of nurses and teachers, they must view union strategies to defend their members with skepticism.
Professionals want to improve their lot, it’s normal and legitimate. They want to have better working conditions, which the average Quebecer understands and supports.
But will this sensitivity resist the hostage-taking of our children condemned to stay at home? When we see that the FAE launched an unlimited general strike so early, without strike funds and above all without a clear action plan, we are entitled to wonder what it was seeking to accomplish by acting in this way and ruling out the gradation of measurements.
When the FIQ demands that its members be paid 50% more for scheduled shifts, therefore not overtime, on weekends, we are entitled to wonder if it is not deliberately trying to destabilize everything.
When the Common Front threatened to launch an indefinite general strike in January, one wondered if it was not engaged in a race aimed at inflicting as much damage as possible on Quebec.
The unions, in particular the FAE, have plunged their members into a downward spiral for four weeks, just before Christmas. They exposed them to financial difficulties as the holidays approached. These are their decisions, and they must report them to their members.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Union members are not on strike to receive grocery gift cards, they are not on strike to wear red hats with their union logo, they are not on strike to find themselves in an uncertain financial situation . They went there, at the request of their union, to speed up negotiations and force the parties to come to an agreement, not only in their interests, but also in the interest of public schools in general.
But given the gravity of the situation, one would expect unions to be more willing to find solutions, more open to compromise, more eager to get their members back to work. However, it is quite the opposite.
It is not only the children who are taken hostage, it is also the members of the trade unions who find themselves caught between the tree and the bark. Forced to support a movement which plunged them into precariousness to ask the government not to plunge them further into precariousness.
We have the impression that everyone will lose in these negotiations. Let us hope that after these negotiations, we will have the courage to ask ourselves the real questions.