(Montreal) Pressure from public sector union members intensified, starting with a big march on September 23 in Montreal. Common front unions also have the mandate to prepare for the strike this fall.
The four labor organizations that form the common front in the public sector, namely the CSN, the CSQ, the FTQ and the APTS, took stock on Tuesday of the state of the negotiations before the summer holidays.
The common front has already requested mediation – a necessary step before obtaining the right to strike. These mediation meetings have begun and are continuing.
But “it is absolutely not progressing at the negotiating tables”, except perhaps “only a few”, underlined Magali Picard, president of the FTQ.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Magali Picard, President of the FTQ
“In the fall, the pressure will certainly increase and we will definitely consult our members. Now, what will it be? It is certain that the strategy could go as far as a strike. We are going to consult our members and it is they who will decide,” summed up Éric Gingras, president of the CSQ.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Eric Gingras, President of the CSQ
The President of the APTS, Robert Comeau, confirms the increased pressure in the health and social services sector. “We also have a mandate to prepare for the strike this fall, of course. We are preparing for it. It is a necessary step to prepare for it. We also asked for mediation a few weeks ago. You should know that in health and social services, we must also agree on essential services. So all of these processes are currently underway. »
Quebec continues to offer all state employees 9% increases over five years, to which it adds a lump sum of $1,000 and an amount equivalent to 2.5% devoted to “government priorities”, which leads him to conclude that he is offering 13% raises over five years.
PHOTO PATRICE LAROCHE, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
APTS Treasurer, Sébastien Pitre, and President, Robert Comeau
The common front demands for the first year $100 per week or the CPI plus 2% – whichever formula is more advantageous for the worker – then the CPI plus 3% the second year and the CPI plus 4% the third year .
“They still refuse us and they tell us that we ask too much on the $100 a week, the first year. And they have the nerve, the deputies, at the same time, to vote themselves an increase of $582 per week,” criticized François Énault, vice-president of the CSN responsible for public sector negotiations.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
François Énault, CSN vice-president responsible for public sector bargaining
As for the big demonstration on September 23, the common front also invites the general population there, in order to defend public services. The major labor organizations say they fear greater privatization of health and education services.
Éric Gingras worried about the education sector
The president of the CSQ, Éric Gingras, is concerned about the general situation in the field of education, taken with a shortage of personnel and the measures adopted hastily to try to alleviate the problem.
In an interview on Tuesday, the president of the major trade union center in the education sector shared his concerns, as the number of shortened programs to improve the training of 30,000 non-legally qualified teachers and the bonuses offered as Quebec faces a difficulty.
“We try with plasters, with bandages. Yes that will help; we take everything that happens,” but we also have to tackle the basic problem, which is the lack of interest in professions and trades in the education sector,” says Mr. Gingras.
“Teachers, professionals, support staff, that no longer attracts. And even when the government makes an effort with bonuses, it does not even do so for the education network,” lamented Mr. Gingras.
Beyond ad hoc measures, we must also improve the working and working conditions of those who work in the education sector and tackle the composition of classes and support for teachers. It is in this way, believes the president of the Centrale des unions du Québec, that the problems can be solved in the longer term.