(Quebec) The president of the Conseil du trésor, Sonia LeBel, is impatient with the deadlock in negotiations with childcare workers and now mentions the special law among “the tools” to put an end to the conflict. On Wednesday, employees affiliated with the CSQ adopted an indefinite general strike mandate to be used when deemed appropriate.
“I remain a person who prefers to get along, I will make every effort to get along, but that is most certainly one of the tools that are available,” said Minister LeBel upon her arrival at the Salon Bleu on Wednesday. Again on Monday, she ruled out this possibility. “At this point, I continue to think that we are able to get along,” she said in an interview with 98.5 FM.
Thursday, Mme LeBel did not hide his impatience as thousands of workers in childcare centers affiliated with the CSQ on Wednesday adopted a mandate of an indefinite 91.2% general strike.
“I sincerely think that we have lost sight of the reality of parents,” she lamented. “I can’t wait for […] children because they suffered a lot during the pandemic. I can’t wait for the parents and I’m so sorry for what is happening, ”she added.
Regarding a special law to settle the conflict, the Minister of the Family Mathieu Lacombe also affirmed that “it is part of the tools” at the disposal of the government. “I think we have reached the point where we have to settle,” he said in the scrum of the press.
Quebec has chosen to give priority to educators because they are underpaid – by its own admission – and there is a shortage of educators. It therefore offers them larger salary increases, but is not as generous to the “other” workers in the CPEs, argues the union party.
“What I’m hearing now, is that no one will be left behind for a matter of principle,” said Mme LeBel, Thursday.
“I’ve said it from the start: we won’t be able to offer enhancements to the same level as what we did for educators, teachers and nurses, because if we did that for all employees , we would not have been able to make these efforts for those jobs. […] We have made marked efforts, and I repeat, it is not a whim, it is not a question of principle. It’s a question of ability to pay, ”she added.
With The Canadian Press