The Legault government and the Common Front are setting the table for Christmas. Draft agreements in principle on working conditions have now been concluded with two-thirds of the 420,000 workers. And intensive negotiations were underway last night at the central table, suggesting a possible agreement this Sunday on salary increases.
The day after the agreement in principle with the 95,000 CSQ teachers, the dominoes began to fall quickly on Saturday. In the evening, Quebec reached an agreement with the largest union in the health sector, then with several organizations in the education network. These agreements at the sectoral tables, relating to working conditions, affect more than 290,000 of the 420,000 workers of the Inter-Union Common Front (CSN, FTQ, CSQ and APTS).
Last Wednesday, the Common Front threatened to launch an indefinite general strike in January unless a settlement is reached by the end of the year. Its members walked off the job for 11 days in the fall, in three episodes (one day, then three, and finally seven). But the speech was far from warlike on Saturday: we recognized that the negotiations were progressing very well.
The lights were green at the sectoral tables as well as at the central table. A settlement by December 25 is possible, people said behind the scenes.
For its part, the Legault government recalled on Saturday that its objective is to obtain an agreement before Christmas, another sign that reaching the target seems possible.
Furthermore, a negotiation blitz was underway with the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE), which is not part of the Common Front and whose members have been on strike for a month. No question of signing a “discount agreement” despite the objective of concluding a settlement before December 25, warned its president.
The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ), which is also not part of the Common Front, announced that it was continuing negotiations in the presence of a conciliator appointed last Tuesday.
Few details
The government has struck a major blow in the health sector with an agreement in principle at the largest sectoral table in the public sector, that concerning the 120,000 workers of the Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN).
This agreement, which concerns working conditions, must be submitted to union delegates for approval before being presented to members of the FSSS-CSN at future general assemblies. However, the union warns that delegates will only be informed of its content “when we have an agreement in principle for both the sectoral table and the central table”.
Details of the new agreement remain confidential for the moment. According to the government, it will notably ensure “a better balance of work and personal life” and will make it possible to “improve the service offering during unfavorable work shifts with better working conditions”.
The “problem” however remains “entire” with regard to salary issues, maintains the union.
For its part, the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS) entered into a negotiating blitz on Saturday evening, which means that the talks are in the home stretch. A member of the Common Front, the union represents 65,000 members, the majority of professional and technical personnel in Quebec’s public health and social services sector.
One situation stands out: no FTQ union had yet announced an agreement with the government at the sectoral tables on Saturday evening.
Advances in education
The talks led to several sectoral tables in the education sector on Saturday evening.
After several days of intensified discussions, the Federation of Education Professionals of Quebec (FPPE-CSQ), which brings together 12,400 members, arrived at a proposed global settlement with the employer. The same goes for the Federation of Professional College Personnel (FPPC-CSQ), which brings together the majority of professional CEGEP personnel.
The school sector negotiating committee of the Federation of Public Service Employees (FEESP-CSN), which represents 35,000 school support employees across the province, also agreed with the government on a possible agreement. of principle.
Still at a sectoral table, Quebec reached an agreement on Saturday evening with the 20,500 members of the Alliance of CEGEP Teachers, which brings together the unions affiliated with the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ-CSN) and the Federation of CEGEP Teachers (FEC-CSQ).
Around midnight, the Federation of CSN Professionals (FP-CSN) announced two possible agreements in principle for more than 6,200 members working in the health and CEGEP network.
Negotiations between Quebec and the FAE intensified last night. “It’s been intensive since [vendredi]it’s working hard, but there are still discussions to be had, subjects to negotiate, so I’m going to reserve myself,” confirmed the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, in an interview on the show Facts First, on Radio-Canada. Note that the union leaders of the Common Front canceled their appearance on this program at the last minute.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mélanie Hubert, president of the Autonomous Education Federation
“We have always had the objective of having an agreement before the holidays, but we will not sign an agreement at a discount,” reiterated Mr.me Hubert, asked whether the FAE and its 66,500 members could continue their indefinite general strike after the holidays.
Mélanie Hubert does not hesitate to describe the negotiations currently taking place as a “blitz” “since we have been working fairly continuous hours”. Otherwise, neither the government nor the FAE wished to comment officially on the progress of the negotiations.
A mixed reaction
Pressure increased a notch on the FAE after the announcement of the start of a negotiation blitz between the government and the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ).
This union, which represents 60% of teachers, finally announced Friday evening that its delegates had ratified a draft regulation agreed with the government during the previous night. This agreement in principle must be presented to the members of the FSE-CSQ “after the holidays”, according to what its president, Josée Scalabrini, indicated.
The news of an agreement with the FSE-CSQ on Friday was received with mixed feelings by several FAE teachers among the approximately 200 to 300 who came to pick up food in a Knights of Columbus hall in LaSalle, on the eve of New Year’s Eve. of Christmas.
Some insisted on the importance of not signing “a discount agreement”. “I’m not losing hope, I tell myself that we didn’t do all this for nothing,” summarized Sandrine Décarie-Robillard, adding that she was “proud” of the position that the FAE has maintained so far.
Others were more bitter about the deal reached by the competing union, which held half as many strike days. “ [La FSE], they do not stand up and say: “We are going to benefit from their fight.” But yes, it was our fight that brought them there. Yes, it’s easier for them to arrive and there are already achievements, we’re already there,” says Mathieu Lepage.
“Perhaps the demands were less bold than [celles de] the FAE and that an agreement was therefore easier? », Qualified Emmanuelle Pin for her part.
I have no resentment towards the FSE, I believe that it did what needed to be done for the majority of teachers.
Emmanuelle Pin
The sight of this immense line of teachers who had been deprived of pay for several weeks made one of the organizers of this distribution, Céléna Du Nord, say that “no one expected us to go there”.
“It’s sad to see that we are pushed to this point, because yes, there are demands that will help us in our profession, but we are doing it for the well-being of young people, this strike- there. »