While the unions are threatening to endow themselves with general strike mandates, the President of the Treasury Board Sonia Lebel insists that the government does not have the means to offer more to employees of childcare centers (CPE) other than the educators.
Negotiations are stumbling over the remuneration of food managers, maintenance workers, administrative officers and advisory officers, the equivalent in childcare centers of educational advisers.
“If we allocate the same margin of increase to everyone, we are unable to go up to $ 30 [l’heure] for educators, ”said Sonia Lebel in an interview with To have to Monday morning. The President of the Treasury Board claims that a general salary increase in childcare centers would force her to agree to the same thing for those in charge of food and maintenance of all the rest of the public network, for example. “It is clear that they will come knocking on my door. “
However, the unions argue that Quebec has the means to pay for such increases with the $ 6 billion in compensation promised by Ottawa with its federal child care program.
On Monday, they undertook a punctual walkout that varied from one union to another (from Monday to Wednesday for the Centrale des unions du Québec; from Monday to Thursday for the Centrale des unions nationale and Wednesday and Thursday for the Fédération des ouvriers du Québec. Quebec).
But that’s not all: the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) and the Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ) have announced that they will summon their members to a general meeting on Wednesday for a vote on an unlimited strike mandate. “Nobody goes on strike with a gaiety of heart,” said CSN president Caroline Senneville during a press briefing Monday morning alongside representatives of the CSQ and FTQ. “If we are there, it’s really because we think we have no choice. “
But Ms. Lebel pleads that the negotiations are not at a standstill since negotiation meetings are on the program Tuesday and Wednesday. “If we have fixed dates, that means that the negotiations are continuing. “
More details will follow.
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