(Montreal) The first voting results emanating from the common front of the public sector show a fairly strong approval of the members of the agreements in principle which had been reached with the government of Quebec.
A body in the health sector, however, chose not to submit a sectoral agreement to its members.
The common front represents 420,000 workers in the education and health sectors, through its four member union organizations: the CSN, the CSQ, the APTS and the FTQ.
For example, in a major health union, that of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval at the APTS (Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services), which has 2,000 members, the agreement received a 78% approval rate.
Still at the APTS, at the Laurentides Integrated Health and Social Services Center, the agreement in principle was ratified by 77%. It is a union of 4,300 members.
However, the Quebec Health Federation, affiliated with the CSQ, announced Thursday that one of its bodies rejected by a strong majority of 98% the sectoral agreement concerning the conditions of practice of nurses, practical nurses and respiratory therapists it represents.
The FSQ-CSQ delegation which looked into this agreement said it saw “setbacks”, which meant that it judged that it “was not interesting enough” to be presented to some 5,000 members. .
The FSQ affirms that “following the result of this vote, it is now planned to request the intervention of a conciliator in order to allow the ideas of each of the parties to be advanced and to attempt to obtain a new proposal for regulations”.
Also at the CSQ, in the Chaudière region, in Beauce, the agreement in principle at the central table of the common front was approved by 92% and the proposed sectoral regulation on working conditions approved by 86%. In this case, it is a union of primary and secondary teachers.
This result at the Federation of Education Unions (FSE), affiliated with the CSQ, is all the more interesting since unions rather attached to the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) criticized their own agreement in principle, in social media, and some even recommend to their members not to endorse it.
The FAE and FSE agreements are very similar; However, they differ on the means put forward to lighten the composition of the class.
However, another union affiliated with the CSQ, the Syndicat de l’enseignement de Lanaudière, indicated Thursday evening that its members had strongly supported the agreement at the central table of the common front at 93%, but had rejected the settlement proposal sector at 62%.
At the CSN, teachers from Cégep de Thetford approved the central table agreement at 90%, the sectoral agreement at 88%. At Cégep de Granby: the central table agreement was approved by 93%, that of the sectoral table by 72%. At Cégep Lionel-Groulx, the central table agreement was ratified at 75%, the sectoral agreement at 80%.
Also at the CSN but among support staff at Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, support reached 97% and among manual staff at the school level at Lac Saint-Jean, 72%.
At the FTQ, the Quebec Union of Service Employees (SQEES), which notably represents beneficiary attendants, reported a 75% vote, all the others showed more than 85% support.
To be continued
These are of course preliminary results, since the information and voting assemblies began last Monday and will last five weeks.
The four presidents or vice-presidents of the FTQ, APTS, CSQ and CSN expressed confidence in this agreement in principle, concluded on December 28 after a tough year of negotiations.
The common front held 11 days of strike in November and December, but rather eight in education, where weekends do not count.
The common front agreement, which applies to everyone, provides for increases of at least 17.4% over five years, with protection against inflation during the last three years of the collective agreement. It also includes improvements to group insurance and vacations.