This text is part of the special section Unionism
From the outset, Guillaume Bouvrette, president of the Union of Professionals of the Government of Quebec (SPGQ), is clear. Quebecers’ perception of professional staff employed by the government is distorted by the tenacity of four myths that it intends to deconstruct.
The first myth is that professionals employed by the government are pampered, thanks in particular to generous social benefits. “This is false,” he argues, “because, year after year, government professionals lose purchasing power. A report from the Quebec Statistics Institute provides us with the exact figures. The overall compensation of government professionals, which includes all benefits, including the pension plan, is 14% lower than that of professionals in other public services, such as municipalities and the Government of Canada. And if we compare ourselves to professionals in the private sector, the gap is 7%. In reality, we are at the bottom of the scale, on par with non-unionized professionals in the private sector. »
Collective insurance
The other myth that he wants to debunk is that which wants the employer, in this case the government of Quebec, to be extremely generous towards the group insurance plan for government professionals. “It’s quite the opposite,” explains Mr. Bouvrette. The standard today for group insurance plans is that the employee and employer contribution is the same, i.e. a 50/50 split. This is not our case, because the employer’s contribution barely covers the taxes on group insurance. »
In addition, the government’s contribution is not a percentage, but rather takes the formula of a monthly lump sum for each employee, an amount which is not indexed annually. “This is one of the least generous group insurance plans on the market to the point where our professionals, who are lucky enough to have a spouse who benefits from a group insurance plan, will choosing to adhere to the latter rather than ours. We would like to improve our plan, for example by offering dental coverage, but the cost of this improvement would fall almost entirely on the employee. »
People are not very productive when working remotely
Teleworking, which has existed for some time, has gained momentum with the pandemic since offices have had to close their doors. But the pandemic has also demonstrated that work can be successfully done from home. The SPGQ therefore carried out a survey of its members in order to better understand their opinion regarding teleworking.
“First, the survey showed that the vast majority of our professionals, more than 70%, far prefer teleworking in hybrid mode, i.e. three days at home and two days in the office,” relates Guillaume Bouvrette. Next, the survey indicates that our professionals would like office presence not to be determined arbitrarily by the employer, as is currently the case, but rather by the type of work to be performed. In addition, they want their days at the office to be organized primarily around activities that encourage exchanges between employees. For example, there is no point forcing a professional to return to the office if it is to participate in a videoconference. »
State personnel are expensive
Is the presence of professionals in government costing taxpayers too much? Some believe it. “Yes, there is a cost to the presence of professionals within the government apparatus,” admits Guillaume Bouvrette. But this cost must be compared to that of outsourcing, which is growing, particularly in areas such as information technology. Typically, work done by a subcontractor costs twice as much as the same work done in-house. » In addition, there is little or no knowledge transfer between subcontractors and government professionals, which reinforces dependence on subcontracting.
If the government currently has no difficulty recruiting professional staff, it does have difficulty retaining them. “The government hires them after university, continues their training, but as soon as the professional acquires some experience, he leaves the public for the private sector. We have become something of a school club. » He hopes that these public sector negotiations, in which the SPGQ is participating, will be an opportunity to make adjustments to the working conditions of government professionals.
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