The Legault government is offering a new enhanced salary increase of 12.7% over five years to public sector employees currently in negotiations, a proposal deemed insufficient by the unions grouped in the Common Front.
Quebec had previously proposed an increase of 10.3% over five years at the end of October. A proposal which had “insulted and angered” the unions.
The new increase therefore represents an increase of 2.4 percentage points. The overall supply increases to 16.7%. “We are determined to resolve quickly and we invite the unions to move forward with us. Now, the work must continue at the tables,” declared the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, in writing.
For its part, the Common Front (CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS) is asking for a salary increase of approximately 23% over three years. The new offer on the table “will always have the effect of impoverishing public sector workers”, reacted the union organizations in a written declaration and invoking inflation forecasts, which are currently at 18.1%. for the same period.
“Without a clause guaranteeing the protection of purchasing power and enrichment allowing salary catch-up (IPC +), it will not be possible to reach an agreement,” we add. The Common Front plans seven days of strike from December 8 to 14.
Quebec presented this new offer this afternoon to the Common Front unions, as well as to the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), and the Government Professionals Union. of Quebec (SPGQ) and the Union of Public and Parapublic Services of Quebec (SFPQ).
Dissatisfied teachers
However, the gap is still large between the Legault government and the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ), which believes that the new offer proposed by Quebec is still very far from meeting the expectations of teachers.
“It is far, far, far from living up to your expectations, and the expectations of your representatives,” underlined in a video broadcast Wednesday morning the president of the Federation of Education Unions, Josée Scalabrini. . We remain looking for an agreement that would significantly change your daily life. »
Quebec made an “exploratory deposit” on Tuesday, she adds, because “they would like the negotiation not to take place in the media”. “I feel like telling you that we will live up to whatever the Prime Minister and the President of the Treasury Board decide to do. If they don’t come out in the media, we won’t come out in the media,” said Josée Scalabrini.
Prime Minister François Legault also showed himself open on Wednesday to looking into the salary scales of teachers. “It’s on the table,” he simply told journalists. There are several proposals. »
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, for his part, hopes for a “negotiated agreement”. “There are a lot of things on the table right now,” he said. “There are class assistants, there are 5,000 more staff, there are openings on professional autonomy and the composition of the class,” he listed. In exchange for improved salary offers, Quebec is hoping in particular for union proposals to “improve the start of the school year”, so that teachers are assigned to a class more quickly at the start of the school year.