It is confirmed: the 420,000 workers of the public sector union common front will be on strike on November 6.
“On November 6 we will experience a first historic movement. We have to go back around fifty years for 420,000 public sector workers to walk out together at the same time,” declared the president of the CSQ, Éric Gingras, at a press conference Thursday morning.
A large part of public services will be disrupted that day, since the common front brings together around 70% of the 600,000 state employees.
“Before arriving at this strike on November 6, we tried everything to try to reach a settlement. On Saturday, it will be a year since we submitted our requests and at the central table, there is absolutely nothing that has changed,” declared Robert Comeau, president of the APTS.
In primary and secondary schools, the strike will take place from midnight to 10:30 a.m. “If the employer decides to reopen the schools at 10:30 a.m., we will be there, and if he decides not to open, it will be their decision,” explained François Enault, first vice-president of the CSN. For their part, CEGEPs will be closed from midnight to noon.
In the health and social services network, employees will work between 20 and 50% of their working time, depending on their type of job and the functions they occupy. Essential services will be maintained.
“Will the population be there? I hope so. Will the population be angry with state workers? I hope not. No one likes to go on strike and no one likes to suffer the effects of a strike. We are very aware of this,” declared the president of the FTQ, Magali Picard.
The current proposal from the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, provides for salary increases of 9% over five years, the payment of a lump sum of $1,000 and bonuses of 2.5% for certain categories of workers. For its part, the union common front is demanding salary increases representing around 20% over three years.
With Hugo Pilon-Larose and Tommy Chouinard