(Montreal) Employees of the Société québécoise du cannabis affiliated with the Confederation of National Trade Unions (SQDC-CSN) declared a one-day strike on Saturday in 13 branches.
Posted at 11:10 a.m.
Updated at 2:20 p.m.
“At present, only the Sainte-Foy branch is closed due to the surprise strike,” confirmed the SQDC by email, service in the other branches being “provided by the managers”.
The strike day is the third in a bank of five days voted on June 5 by the union members. It was triggered during the weekend of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, when the stores are usually very busy.
“We have a ridiculous salary offer on the table, even insulting, so we obviously are asking for parity with the SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec)”, argued the president of the union, Maxime Nadeau, in a telephone interview.
He explained that “Our hourly rate at entry is $17.12 an hour and it takes us about eight years to reach the 12e step, which is set at $21.23 per hour. This is why we always claim parity with those who do substantially the same work as us, ”the employees of the Société des alcools du Québec, he explained in a press release.
In comparison, the starting salary at the SAQ is $22.59, according to the 2021 collective agreement.
Although the hourly rate remains the stumbling block in the negotiations, questions “in relation to schedules, in relation to team leaders” also remain unresolved, according to Mr. Nadeau.
“In general, hiring is going pretty well, but the SQDC is not keeping its people, he said. Suddenly they came home, quickly they became disillusioned when they saw the working conditions. »
He called on the SQDC and the Treasury Board to accede to union demands, while negotiations should resume on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Otherwise, “we still have a lot of surprises to come, if we have to go that far, we still have many ideas to disrupt the activities of the SQDC if necessary, but we hope not to come to that. the “.
He quoted the words of Premier François Legault, who predicted on June 12 that with the labor shortage, “companies that are not able to pay wages higher than $15 or $20 [l’heure] are going to be in trouble”.
For its part, the employer “fully recognizes the employees’ right to exert pressure tactics in the context of the negotiations in progress. The Company remains available to pursue negotiations and our wish is to reach a negotiated agreement to the satisfaction of the parties concerned. »
The SQDC-CSN represents approximately 200 employees spread over 16 branches.
Unionized members of CUPE, affiliated with the FTQ, are already on strike. They first walked off the job for a few hours in April, before launching an indefinite strike on May 20. CUPE represents 300 union members in 26 branches. However, 22 of these 26 are affected by his walkout. In these too, the managers ensure the continuity of services, although with reduced opening hours.