The ferries that connect Matane, Baie-Comeau and Godbout will remain at the dock as of Monday, paralyzed by a strike that threatens to stretch until August 2 if the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) and its fifty or so workers affiliated with the CSN remain unable to reach an agreement to renew a collective agreement that expired on August 1.er April 2023.
Still at an impasse after 15 days of intensive negotiations that ended on July 18, the union members carried out their strike threat on Monday morning. They have been given a mandate to walk out until Friday, then resume their pressure tactics from July 29 to August 2 if the talks remain inconclusive.
Both parties requested the assistance of a conciliator last week. A first meeting with the latter is to take place Monday. The group of ferry unions, affiliated with the CSN, believes that the gap remains wide between the union and employer camps.
“Our positions and those of the employer are still very far apart,” deplores the latest union status report sent to workers last Friday. The employer is demanding concessions regarding our working conditions. […] For our part, we do not accept being forced to make numerous setbacks in exchange for a monetary offer which does not take into account the necessary salary catch-up for more attractive jobs.”
Far from an agreement
The average salary for Matane-Baie-Comeau-Godbout ferry workers is $21.50 an hour, according to the union, which denounces that pay has stagnated for two years despite inflation. On the picket line Monday morning, Stéphanie Gratton, vice-president of the Fédération des employées et employées de services publics, heard strikers say that “they would earn more if they went to work at Tim Hortons.”
“We have a high turnover of staff, we are not attracting like before, insists the union representative. The Legault government keeps saying that it wants the government to be an employer of itself but unfortunately, that is not at all the case at the Société des traversiers.” The Matane–Baie-Comeau–Godbout Ferry employees’ union is asking for a 50% wage increase over five years to reach nearly $30 an hour.
The Société des traversiers du Québec, in a press release issued last Thursday after the failure of the last blitz of negotiations, denounced a union demand which does not respect, in its opinion, “the ability of Quebec taxpayers to pay.”
The ferry that connects Matane and the Côte-Nord is no longer subject to the provisions of the labour code relating to essential services since a decision of the Administrative Labour Tribunal rendered in 2020. The maintenance of the service, the only one to connect the two banks east of the Rivière-du-Loup – Saint-Siméon and Trois-Pistoles – Les Escoumins ferry, is therefore no longer mandatory during strike periods.
The interruption of the crossing therefore requires passengers from the Gaspé to make a detour of almost two hours before reaching the nearest boat.
“This morning it’s empty”
On the Côte-Nord, the impact of the strike was already being felt. Monday morning, at the Resto-Pub Ancien Magasin Général in Godbout. Its owner, Valérie Desbiens, expected “to get bumped into” during construction week. Monday, when the lunch service is normally full, the 80-seat establishment remained almost empty.
“It’s usually full on Mondays,” explains the woman who operates the only restaurant in Godbout. “This morning, it’s 9:30 a.m. and I even have time to eat lunch, precisely because it’s empty.”
Dinner also looked set to be quiet at the Ancien Magasin Général, particularly because the ship that transports passengers from Matane will not dock at the Godbout wharf as usual, shortly after 10 a.m.
“The ferry brings in between 15% and 20% of my customers,” estimates Valérie Desbiens. “It’s true that the strike is putting a bit of a strain on the brake pedal, but I’m a local girl and I know pretty much everyone who works on the boat. I understand their demands.”
The ferries between Quebec and Lévis also experienced a strike from July 5 to 15, in the middle of the Quebec Summer Festival.
The ferry between Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola resumed Monday morning after three days of strike action by employees of the Metalworkers union. The union’s pressure tactics also affected ferries between Montmagny and L’Isle-aux-Grues this weekend and will continue to disrupt service between Isle-aux-Coudres and Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, in Charlevoix, until Thursday morning.
During the six-day strike, only eight daily crossings will take place, as opposed to the 25 normally in place when the summer season is in full swing.