Negotiations in the public sector | Legault expects a “big strike” on Halloween

(Quebec) Prime Minister François Legault expects a “big strike on October 31”, Halloween day, while members of the common union front voted 95% in favor of a walkout.

This mandate provides for the ultimate resort of an indefinite general strike. This would be preceded by isolated or grouped walkout days. No date has been announced. The common front represents 420,000 workers, members of the CSN, the FTQ, the CSQ and the APTS.

“What we hear, we are still in rumors, is that there will be a big strike on October 31,” said Mr. Legault during a press briefing on Tuesday.

He suggested that the government will not make any significant additional movement at the negotiating tables before this walkout. “Obviously, the unions still believe that they have to have a strike to ensure that they get everything they can get, so we’re going to wait for the strike on October 31,” he said.

The Prime Minister reiterated that his offer to state employees is “reasonable” and “respects Quebecers’ ability to pay.”

Quebec has put on the table salary increases of 9% in five years, a lump sum payment of $1,000 and bonuses of 2.5% for certain categories of workers.

The common union front is asking for around 20% in three years.

Common front demands

• Consumer Price Index (CPI) +2% increase for 2023
• CPI +3% for 2024
• CPI +4% for 2025

Note: the union demands represent total salary increases of approximately 21% if we take into account the CPI recorded in 2022 and the forecasts included in the Legault government budget for 2023 and 2024.

For her part, the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, deplored that the common front, unlike the FIQ and the FAE, had not pruned its list of demands. She says she herself reduced her employer demands to speed up negotiations. She wants a settlement by the holidays.

Sonia LeBel added that the government will have to determine soon if, in the absence of movement from the common front at the negotiating tables, the government will suspend the payment of various bonuses to their members, bonuses which have been extended until now even if they were to end when collective agreements expire.

For the opposition parties, the government must improve its offer.

“If the offer is refused, it is up to the government to improve it,” declared the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), Marc Tanguay, at a press briefing.

For Québec solidaire (QS), this is a “historic” strike vote, a clear message to the government. “We should not become poorer by working in our public services,” insisted the parliamentary leader of QS, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

For its part, the Parti Québécois (PQ) maintains that the Legault government is not in a position of strength.

“The government is rather on its knees to the extent that services are deteriorating,” said PQ health spokesperson Joël Arseneau. We are on the verge of collapse, both in health, in education and in childcare services.

“However, the government, I think, would have the population behind it if it resolutely decided to put in place means to improve working conditions, to improve services and give people hope,” he added.

With The Canadian Press