(Quebec) The central negotiating table has finally gotten to the heart of the matter. The common front has made a new proposal on salary increases as the government is ready to further open its pockets.
According to Quebec, “the pace is accelerating” in the negotiations. But unless there is an agreement in principle in the coming hours, the union delegates of the common front (CSN, FTQ, CSQ and APTS) will consider on Tuesday the use of the ultimate means of pressure: the launching of a general strike in January unlimited freedom of its 420,000 workers.
Union leaders remain silent until then. A press conference is planned for Wednesday morning only, in Quebec.
The central table, where salaries are discussed, and the sectoral tables, which negotiate working conditions, continued their work this weekend. The talks are progressing, but not at a pace that would suggest an imminent agreement in principle, according to reports obtained from various sources.
At the central table, the common front submitted a new proposal on wages. The government is studying it and must respond to it, it is said.
Quebec has sent the signal that it will increase its latest offer of salary increases by 12.7% in five years. The common front revised its initial proposal over three years and recently called for an indexation clause of 18.1% to cover the rise in the cost of living and an increase of 7% – instead of 9% – as “enrichment” and salary catch-up. However, he questioned the 7% increase.
We cannot yet speak of the proverbial negotiation blitz due to the very variable state of progress of the talks at the sectoral tables.
SATURDAY, The Press explained that negotiations are slowing down at the largest sectoral table, the one involving the 120,000 workers of the CSN Health and Social Services Federation. There has been no major development since.
It is difficult to believe that an agreement in principle can be reached at the central table if there is not a prior agreement at the largest sectoral table.
While the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) continues its indefinite general strike, the Federation of CSQ Education Unions (FSE-CSQ) maintains that negotiations advanced over the weekend, but that she is not about to reach an agreement in principle. She still hopes for a settlement before December 23.
The main issue at the sectoral tables remains the famous flexibility that the government wants to obtain in collective agreements.
The government says that discussions are “increasingly serious with several unions” and that “the pace is accelerating”.
“We share the understanding that it is always possible to agree by Christmas and we are making all the necessary efforts to achieve this,” adds the office of the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel.
The common front organizations (CSN, FTQ, CSQ and APTS) have been planning to bring together their delegates on Tuesday for several weeks already. It was considered the ideal time to decide on a possible agreement in principle. In the absence of an agreement to submit to delegates, union leaders said delegates will decide on the next course of action and whether to resort to an indefinite general strike in January.