The Commission des services juridiques (CSJ) has not obtained a mandate from the government to offer legal aid lawyers working conditions equivalent to those of Crown prosecutors, despite an agreement to this effect in 2019.
The duty wrote Tuesday morning that nearly half of the legal aid lawyers could go on strike to contest the salary offers from Quebec, which has so far refused to pay them at the height of their colleagues from the Crown. In 2020, they obtained salary increases totaling 10% in four years. Legal aid lawyers are instead being offered increases of 6% over three years, equivalent to those presented to public sector employees.
However, the principle of parity between legal aid lawyers and its attorneys was recognized during the negotiations of the last collective agreement, argued union representatives.
But this time, “the CSJ had a negotiating mandate equivalent to that of the public and parapublic sectors,” said Marie-Ève Fillion, public affairs advisor at the Ministry of the Executive Council and the Secretariat of the Treasury Board on Tuesday.
Since legal aid lawyers are not government employees, the latter mandates the CSJ — their employer — to negotiate with the unions.
“We would like to point out that the working conditions of SCJ lawyers are different from those of criminal and penal prosecuting attorneys. [procureurs de la Couronne]. These two groups having a different negotiation system, [cela] can lead to different results,” added Ms. Fillion.
She recalled that the last round of negotiations “allowed the lawyers of the CSJ, following compromises on their part, to approach the salary of the [procureurs de la Couronne] at the top of the pay scale.
The spokeswoman also said she was unable to comment on the impact of current salary offers on the retention capacities of legal aid and on legal delays, “since the negotiation is not over”.