As the public sector prepares to strike on Monday to demand significant improvements to our public services, Quebec finds itself today at a critical crossroads. Are we going to support this strike which aims to improve the working conditions of the people who provide us with daily services? Are we going to adequately finance our social infrastructure? The Fédération des femmes du Québec supports this strike and we call on the population to do the same!
A feminist issue
Unions’ demands for improved working conditions and salary increases are formulated to address urgent needs in the workplace: to avoid professional burnout, to ensure that the workload is adequately divided, to compensate for the lack of labor, to fairly distribute our resources and to avoid precariousness.
Inaction in the face of these concrete needs will have catastrophic impacts on our social safety net and on the precariousness of women since they represent nearly 80% of the workforce in the affected areas, the overwhelming majority. The disparities in salary increases are glaring and it is always women who become poorer.
The government has offered a 10.3% pay increase to public services over five years, which is barely more than the inflation of the last two years. However, last June, the National Assembly granted itself a salary increase of $30,000 (30%) and the police unions refused a salary increase of 21%, deeming it insufficient.
These disparities in salary increases are not the result of chance, but a concrete demonstration of the devaluation and constant depreciation of the work of women and particularly that of racialized women, who are over-represented in these environments. It’s a shame that in 2023 we still have to fight this fight for the recognition of women’s work, especially when it comes to sectors as essential as health and education.
Always our “guardian angels”
During the pandemic, the government and the population sang the praises of our “guardian angels”, those who sacrificed their physical and mental health to respond to the crisis. Here we see two-speed recognition and obvious opportunism: when society collapses, we need our “guardian angels”, but when it is time to offer them decent working conditions, then the budget is no longer there.
Today, these same people are mobilizing and sacrificing to respond to another crisis: the chronic underfunding of our public services. Because this strike is indeed a sacrifice for thousands of people who are losing their pay for an indefinite period. This is not a decision taken lightly, but the only means of pressure that workers have to make their boss (the government) listen to them. This is the only way to create a balance of power with a boss who does not seem to care about the needs of his workforce.
We will become aware in the coming days, and even more so during the unlimited general strikes which will be called at the end of November, that each and every one of us depends on public services. The effects of the strike will be felt, because these services offered are essential and absolutely vital to the proper functioning of our society.
Through it all, we must remember that the strikers are not demanding the impossible, they are demanding what we need to survive as a society. So it’s not their fight, but our fight.
It’s our turn to support them
What will it take to push the government, both negotiator and legislator, to finally recognize the inestimable value of public services, particularly of workers, who contribute so much to Quebec society and whose role is absolutely crucial? ? It’s simple: unprecedented support for the public sector strike!
It is imperative to show our support for workers, to recognize that we deserve infinitely better than these government proposals which threaten to dismantle the social services on which our entire society relies.
This support can take different forms: participation in demonstrations, petitions, letters or calls to your MP, publications on social networks, etc. The important thing is to show the government that we recognize the injustice that affects public service workers and that we stand in solidarity. That we deserve better!