Editor’s note. : The president of the FTQ, Magali Picard, finally decided to return to Quebec on Wednesday, following the controversy caused by her trip to Dubai, in the midst of negotiations between state employees and the Legault government. Our collaborator Yasmine Abdelfadel wrote the blog post below, which sparked the controversy. She has since written another opinion column on the subject which you can read here.
In the midst of a strike in the public sector, the president of the FTQ, Magali Picard, will fly to Dubai.
While new strike dates are announced by the Common Front, from December 8 to 14, the FTQ published a press release indicating that its leaders will leave for Dubai to participate in COP28, which will be held from November 30 to December 12.
In crisis
While negotiations are moving at a very slow pace, children will miss days of school and elective surgeries will be canceled, it is disconcerting to see one of the main figures of this strike movement fly to the Dubai sun to discuss the environment.
- Listen to the interview that Me Guillaume Michaud, the president of the Association of Criminal and Penal Prosecutors, gave to Yasmine Abdelfadel via QUB radio :
The fight against climate change is obviously important, but is it really crucial for the FTQ to participate in this international event while Quebec is in crisis?
As we wait for both parties to come together at the negotiating table to move the issues forward, resolve the impasse and find a solution as quickly as possible, it is clear that the government does not have a monopoly on lack of judgment.
Insulting
Union members should be deeply insulted to learn that their leaders will participate in international events, on the other side of the planet, to discuss an important subject, but far removed from their daily realities, while they will be in the streets, on strike, holding picket lines in the cold.
Besides, who will pay for this trip? The dues of members on strike? Who will take care of the negotiations during this time, when even the number 2 of the FTQ will take part in the trip?
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
What credibility will the Common Front have when it says that the government is disconnected from the reality of the population, that it has no sense of priorities and that it is insulting?
It is undeniable that the negotiations are not taken seriously, that the strike is treated lightly and that we are taken for pawns. Think about it for a moment, while you watch your children stuck at home in December due to the strike, the negotiators will be far away from the negotiating table. They will be in Dubai.
