Health sector | Two collective agreements signed for 50,000 members

(Montreal) Two unions affiliated to the FTQ in the health and social services sector have signed a new collective agreement for a little over 50,000 members.

The Quebec Service Employees Union (SQEES) said Thursday that its members were “impatient to benefit from the benefits that have been negotiated. […] after nineteen months without a collective agreement ”.

Salary increases of 2% per year are provided for in the contract in effect from 1^er April 2020 to March 31, 2023.

The SQEES-FTQ, which represents 25,000 members across Quebec, also emphasizes various bonuses and an increase in salaries for patient attendants and health and social services auxiliaries.

Lucie Thériault, general secretary of the union, said she was proud that the teams “were able to impose an improvement in the salary structure for the lowest employees which is in addition to the salary increases”.

For its part, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the largest union affiliated to the FTQ, signed a new collective agreement for nearly 26,000 of its members in the Quebec health and social services network. .

The agreement, which was ratified by members at the end of June, also includes salary increases of 2% per year.

The union underlined a new salary structure in the third year of the agreement to “initiate a significant salary catch-up for the lowest employees”.

“We are finally putting the finishing touches on a significant negotiation which initiated a major shift in the network. The government of Quebec is beginning to understand that with the repercussions of the pandemic, it had no choice but to seriously correct the effects of the years of cuts and mergers, ”said Maxime Ste-Marie, president of the Provincial Council. of social affairs (CPASSCFP).

He spoke of considerable gains, the “best of the last twenty years”.

“But this is really just the start. The network is still very badly in good shape and there will be many other corrections to be made so that working conditions are finally good and all the positions are attractive, ”added Mr. Ste-Marie.