More than two months after the conclusion of agreements in principle with the Legault government, uncertainty still hovers over when hundreds of thousands of workers in the education and health sectors will benefit from salary increases and bonuses. of their working conditions for which they went on strike last year. A delay which, without being unusual, creates strong “impatience” in the ranks of several unions, noted The duty.
“People are impatient. Our members are really tired of waiting,” said in an interview on Monday the president of the Quebec Union of Service Employees, Sylvie Nelson, whose members work mainly in the health and social services sector.
In February, the Common Front as well as the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) announced that they had reached agreements in principle with Quebec in anticipation of the signing of new collective agreements which will be valid until 2028. However, these have still not been signed, which has the effect of delaying the moment when the workers concerned will see their salaries increase, in addition to having access to new bonuses. The collective agreements also provide for salary retroactivity, as of 1er April 2023, which will be put back in the pockets of workers within a few months after signing them.
However, in the meantime, “we continue to be paid at the hourly rate without an increase. The cost of living is increasing, and our salary is stagnating,” laments Audrey Heideiger, who is a school organization technician in a school in Estrie. “We realize that every time we go grocery shopping, it’s more and more expensive. We work to pay the bills, buy groceries and pay off the mortgage. »
Impatience
In recent days, many unionized workers have turned to social networks to urge their union and Quebec to resolve this issue, so that their salaries can be increased.
Every day our members lose money
“As long as our agreements are not signed, no one will have a salary increase, no one will earn more, while groceries cost twice as much,” laments the vice-president of the food sector. education for the Quebec branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Richard Delisle. The latter also reminds that the bonuses that its members will obtain upon signing their collective agreement will not be retroactive.
Thus, “every day, our members lose money” by not having the right to the bonuses that they have negotiated with Quebec, also notes the president of the Alliance of professional and technical personnel in health and social services, Robert Comeau. “It’s money flowing through their fingers, hence the eagerness” to settle this matter, he continues.
The CSN, for its part, notes the existence of several “typos” in the texts recently sent to it by the government, which could delay the time when they will be final. “We should increase the pace and make it a priority for the government,” insists the vice-president of the CSN, François Enault, according to whom the collective agreements must be signed in May so that the usual deadlines concerning this process are respected.
The Treasury Board was unable to answer questions from the Duty.
Working conditions
In the education sector, there is also fear that a late signing of collective agreements will have the effect that certain measures aimed at improving the working conditions of teachers, such as the revision of the composition of groups and the addition of classroom aids, cannot be implemented in time for the next school year.
“But my concern is to feel good in my work,” emphasizes Johanne Blaise, who teaches elementary school in Montreal. However, “in terms of measures that could be applicable from the start of the school year, the window we have to work is closing more and more,” confirms the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, who emphasizes that the school service centers will have need time to make the hires that will be necessary to implement the collective agreement negotiated by its members.