The least that can be said is that François Legault was never an ardent trade unionist. Rather, he is one of those who see unions as a necessary evil. And maybe not so necessary after all.
When he was Minister of Education, he came – like many parents – to the conclusion that teachers should be evaluated periodically and invited to do a refresher course if necessary. The young teacher that was then Jean-François Roberge had pointed out to him the need to create a new professional order, but he considered it too risky to alienate the unions.
When the CAQ merged with the ADQ, Mr. Legault dismissed the latter’s increasingly aggressive anti-union proposals from the outset. He agreed to “modernize” union culture, but not to the point of abolishing the “Rand formula”, which imposes the withholding of union dues from all members of a certification unit, even if they are not part of the union.
However, he was prepared to make the holding of a show of hands a mandatory prerequisite for a new certification and to impose the disclosure of union financial statements, which had led the former president of the CSN, Jacques Létourneau, to accuse him of “primary anti-unionism”.
After he became Prime Minister, the doomsday predictions of some did not come true. The SAQ was not privatized, as he himself had suggested. The pilot privatization projects in the health sector, which the ADQ had made a condition of the merger, were also abandoned. In the end, there was no “reengineering 2.0”.
The pandemic has had the effect of reviving his old reflexes. The union’s opposition to differentiated wage offers, which go against egalitarian dogma, obviously shocked him at a time when it was urgent to stop the bleeding of staff in the health network.
For months the government’s frustration continued to increase. In both health and education, unions have given the impression that they are more part of the problem than the solution.
The support they gave to unvaccinated workers was a big contributor to the humiliating setback the government has twice had to resolve. Seeing union demands jeopardizing the plan of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, to repatriate 4,000 nurses was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Mr. Legault and Mr. Dubé threw the gloves off this week. The first denounced the “very negative discourse” of the unions. The second “does not think that the unions are collaborating at the moment to the height of the role that they should have”.
It would certainly be unfair to hold them responsible for all the problems that have plagued the health care network for decades and the government’s inability to keep the unrealistic promises the CAQ made during the last election campaign. They can, however, make excellent scapegoats.
In the eyes of the population, it will seem absurd that they demand to grant health workers released for union activities the $ 15 bonus offered to those who work full time on the floor, a bonus that has been threatened with remove them if they took a single day of unpaid leave. Or to offer the same increases to daycare educators and support staff simply because they work in the same establishment.
Christian Dubé, whose pandemic has made the big star of the government, will occupy a central place in the campaign plan of the CAQ. He is one of the few who can be sure of keeping his post after the next election.
It is now too late to achieve the goals that were set in 2018, whether it be reducing wait times in the emergency room or even access to a family doctor, but it will be imperative. to present a credible game plan for the next four years.
Mr. Dubé must table his bill today to force general practitioners to take on more patients. He will certainly present it as an outstretched hand, but the staff will be clearly visible. The people will have the opportunity to measure their determination before the election.
In 1989, the election campaign was launched in the midst of a labor dispute with nurses. One evening, Prime Minister Bourassa, who was not an anti-unionist, had launched without warning: “Who is it that leads to Quebec, the public interest or the pressure groups?” Members of the Fédération des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec ratified a settlement agreement three days before the election, which the Liberals won with 92 seats.