Criticized this winter for its unilateral decision to divest itself of the House of Writers, the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers (UNEQ) is now committed to respecting an 18-month moratorium on the sale of its historic headquarters. The syndicate thus wishes to give itself the necessary time to find a new buyer who will be able to pursue the mission of the house by promoting Quebec literature.
If no project related to literature is proposed at the end of this moratorium, which would end in September 2024, the UNEQ indicates that it would then have no choice but to put the Maison des writers up for sale. This proposal will be put to a vote at the extraordinary general meeting of members on March 29.
Remember that this meeting was made necessary in the wake of the controversy surrounding the union dues that the UNEQ seeks to collect. But the question of the sale of the House of Writers has also imposed itself on the agenda, after the management of the UNEQ took a step back last January.
The UNEQ had already announced that it was taking steps to sell this ancestral building in the Saint-Louis square, which it has owned since 1990. The members had not been consulted beforehand. The manner in which this decision was taken by the board of directors had raised the ire of former leaders of the union and a number of well-known authors. Several had pointed out that the Maison des Ecrivains is not only the headquarters of UNEQ, but above all one of the rare spaces dedicated to the promotion of literature.
The union says it was sensitive to the arguments raised by the protesters, hence the proposal to adopt an 18-month moratorium. The time to try to find a new organization or a patron who agrees to continue the mission of the house. But the president Suzanne Aubry reiterates that the UNEQ does not have the means to preserve the Maison des écrivains in the long term. “We maintain that there is a need to sell the house. But we are listening. We understand that the house has a historical role, that there is a sentimental value. We feel it ourselves. We didn’t make the decision to sell lightly,” she insists.
Uncertain outcome
In an information guide sent to members on the sidelines of the next general assembly, the UNEQ points out that maintenance work on the house is expected to double, or even triple, in the coming years. The authors’ union also fears that the tax exemption granted to it in 2017 will not be renewed, due to its change of status. A vote against the proposal to sell the building on March 29 would therefore have serious financial consequences, argues Suzanne Aubry. “Whether now, whether in two, in four years, the problem will rest in an acute way”, specifies the one who however promises to comply with the decision of the members.
During this same virtual meeting, the members will also look into the thorny issue of union dues. On this subject, the UNEQ proposal remains the same: a contribution of 2.5% for members and 5% for non-members. The organization hopes to collect these amounts on all current and future publishing contracts.
UNEQ had already approved this proposal at its general assembly last year. But barely 46 people out of the then 1,600 members took part in the vote. There followed an outcry in the literary community, while many considered that this decision had no legitimacy. The UNEQ finally chose to submit this question again to a vote because of a procedural defect at the first general assembly.