Public sector negotiations have just hit a major pitfall: the FTQ refuses to sign the texts of the collective agreements as submitted by Quebec, arguing that the wording does not correspond to what was agreed at the negotiation tables.
For its two major affiliated unions –– the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Quebec Union of Service Employees (SQEES) – the agreement in principle, although ratified by the members, is downright “in danger”.
Since these agreements were ratified by the common front unions, of which the FTQ was a part, there has been an exchange of texts between the government and the union organizations – as is normally the case before the official signing of the conventions – in order to ensure that these correspond to what was agreed at the negotiation tables.
And this is where the problem lies, according to the CUPE and the SQEES, two large unions which represent thousands of beneficiary attendants.
These unions distinguish several distortions with what had been agreed at the tables, according to them, affecting the payment of overtime at double rate, the deadline for payment of retroactivity, the start of the payment of new bonuses, in particular.
For payment at the double rate, for example, the text submitted by Quebec states that “we have several job titles which would no longer be entitled to this double rate. And it’s unacceptable,” said Fanny Demontigny, president of the CUPE Provincial Council of Social Affairs, in an interview on Friday.
Consequently, the FTQ will not sign these agreements if the texts remain as they are, she warns. She invites the government to return to the table, not to renegotiate, but to clarify the situation.
CUPE and SQEES accuse the government of not keeping its word. They plan to file a complaint for bad faith negotiation against the Quebec government.