The first voting results from the Public Sector Common Front show a fairly strong approval by members of the agreements in principle that had been reached with the government of Quebec.
The Common Front represents 420,000 workers in the education and health sectors, through its four member union organizations: the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), the Alliance of professional and technical personnel in health and social services (APTS) and the Federation of Quebec Workers (FTQ).
For example, in a major health union, that of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval at the APTS, which has 2,000 members, the agreement received an approval rate of 78%.
Still at the APTS, at the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CIUSSS) of the Laurentides, the agreement in principle was ratified by 77%. It is a union of 4,300 members.
Multiple teacher endorsements
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%. This 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, on social media, and some even recommend that their members not 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.
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 agreement of the central table approved at 93%, that of the sectoral table at 72%. At Cégep Lionel-Groulx, the central table agreement ratified at 75%, the sectoral agreement at 80%.
At the FTQ, at the Quebec Union of Service Employees (SQEES), which notably represents beneficiary attendants, we report a vote of 75%, all the others above 85%.
These are of course preliminary results, since the information and voting assemblies began last Monday and will last five weeks.