Union Common Front of Quebec State Employees | In the absence of an improved offer, the specter of a strike in the fall

(Quebec) The union common front issues a warning to the Legault government: it is out of the question to accept an agreement like the one concluded between Ottawa and its civil servants on Monday. Salary increases must be greater for Quebec government employees, otherwise, and the word is spoken for the first time, a strike will be considered in the fall.

This was stated by the leaders of the FTQ, the CSN, the CSQ and the APTS in an interview with The Press Monday. They represent more than 400,000 state employees who are renegotiating their collective agreements that expired on March 31. Among them, the president of the FTQ, Magali Picard, and her counterpart of the CSQ, Éric Gingras, will meet with Prime Minister François Legault on Tuesday, a meeting with union leaders which takes place every year as part of the celebration workers from 1^er may.

For Magali Picard, the message to the Prime Minister will be clear: “It takes a major investment”, and even “massive” in order to increase salaries in the public sector. However, his offer is far from the account. “We need a strong signal if he wants to keep his current employees and once again become an employer of choice that will attract the next generation,” she added, recalling that a shortage is hitting the health and education networks. . Salaries are in his eyes “the number one issue” of these talks.

“This negotiation is decisive in bringing back working conditions that will allow us to maintain our public services,” said François Enault, vice-president of the CSN (whose president Caroline Senneville will be meeting with Mr. Legault) .

We saw it during the strike in CPEs two years ago, according to him, when the workers “obtained the support of parents” and “won their battle”.

A walkout in the public sector will also be “definitely on the agenda if the negotiations do not progress”, he warned.

Consultation tour

The unions begin a consultation tour of their members to obtain a mandate to “intensify the means of pressure” and to have their opinion “on a preparation for a possible strike”. For the moment, “it’s not a strike mandate that we’re going to seek, but it’s clear that if it doesn’t move forward, we’re going to be thinking about it this fall,” added Mr. Enault. .

According to Magali Picard, “it would be extremely shocking if this government let its employees go on strike after everything that has happened with the pandemic. He has to be serious and come to the table with reasonable offers”.

The interview took place a few hours after the announcement of an agreement between Ottawa and 120,000 civil servants who were on strike. They obtained salary increases of 12.6% in four years, so a little more than 3% per year.

It is unanimous among the leaders of the common front: such salary increases would be insufficient for the Quebec government. “When we look at total compensation, Quebec public sector employees compare at a disadvantage to other categories, whether federal or private,” pleaded Éric Gingras, recalling the recent conclusions of a study by the Institut Quebec statistics⁽¹⁾.

He added that the current offer from the Legault government does not cover the rise in the cost of living or start a “salary catch-up”.

The gap is gigantic between the parties. It’s simple to double.

The common front points out that the government’s classic argument for offering less in wages, job security, loses its importance in times of shortage and full employment.

The leaders deplore the pace of the negotiations when “we spent more time on form than on substance” from the start. The government finally abandoned the idea of ​​imposing “discussion forums”, outside the traditional negotiation tables, to address issues of its choice.

Nevertheless, he still limits himself to wanting to discuss only his own priorities at the negotiating tables, according to the common front. “The pressure is mounting among our members because we are not able to place our demands,” lamented the president of the APTS, Robert Comeau. This is the case with requests aimed at tackling the work overload in certain environments such as youth centres.