Quebec government engineers will be on strike starting April 22. The Professional Association of Government Engineers of Quebec (APIGQ) sent Friday a notice of unlimited general strike to the Secretariat of the Treasury Board.
APIGQ estimates that engineers who practice civil engineering in the provincial government are paid less than professionals in their discipline in the private sector, but also compared to other civil engineers in the public sector and cities. This is detrimental to the retention of expertise, the union believes.
Government engineers are 32 to 34% behind their colleagues working elsewhere in the public sector, said APIGQ President Marc-André Martin, referring to the study by a committee of independent experts who considered the question of compensation following the last labor dispute.
This gap is on average half as small for all provincial public service professionals compared to other public sector employers.
“There is nothing that justifies being twice as late as other professionals. We would like to have a catch-up of 14% to put us back at least as late as the others, ”said Mr. Martin to The Canadian Press.
The government’s way of settling the dispute is to invite the engineers to work more to increase their income, mentioned the president of the APGIQ.
“The majority of my people can already work overtime and they do. […] These are not salary increases, we worked on them, ”said Mr. Martin.
The strike notice follows the wage offer filed Thursday. Despite everything, APIGQ plans to continue negotiations, not wishing to delay the start of work in the current context of economic recovery.
The outbreak of a strike could “significantly hinder” the period of work at the Ministry of Transport, underlined Mr. Martin.
Negotiations began more than two years ago before the end of the collective agreement, which expired on March 31, 2020.
“It’s been three years since we’ve had a pay rise. In the current market, we find that it is inconceivable, it is unacceptable,” lamented the union leader.
Current discussions are aimed at concluding an employment contract with an expiry date set for 2023.