(Sherbrooke) Dissatisfied with the progress of the negotiations, the common front of the public sector unions is letting the threat of a strike hover.
About 1,000 union members demonstrated on Saturday in front of the Sherbrooke fairgrounds, where François Legault’s Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) was holding its convention.
Union leaders complained that the negotiations are only moving forward on the issues that the government wants to settle, but not on the issues that the workers want to settle.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the president of the Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ), Éric Gingras, indicated that the mobilization movement was being prepared in all the unions of the common front.
Thus, in the fall, if the negotiations do not progress quickly enough, the unions will consult their members and if necessary, they will go on strike.
The collective agreements of 600,000 state employees expired on March 31.
Quebec has so far offered wage increases of 9% over five years, plus a lump sum of $1,000 and an amount equivalent to 2.5% reserved for “government priorities”. Quebec therefore claims to present an offer of up to 13% over five years.
The common front, for its part, is demanding a $100 per week increase or the consumer price index (CPI) plus 2% for the first year of the employment contracts, whichever formula is most advantageous for the workers, then the CPI plus 3% for the second year and CPI plus 4% for the third year.