Which is part of the Common Front of 420,000 people which could go on strike on November 6. Hospital staff? Daycares? A brief overview of the expected impacts of the labor conflict and the sectors that will be spared.
In health
The Common Front has tens of thousands of beneficiary attendants (PAB) affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Workers (FTQ).
These workers work mainly in CHSLDs, but also in hospitals.
However, no service disruption is expected since employees are subject to the Act ensuring the maintenance of essential services.
The common front also includes a certain number of nurses affiliated with the CSN, but they also do not have the right to slow down the pace significantly.
Also note: the majority of nurses affiliated with the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ) are not part of the common front that would be on strike.
However, we can expect a slowdown in the activities of many healthcare workers whose missions are less associated with emergencies.
This will be the case, for example, for all “professionals” affiliated with the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel (APTS), the equivalent of 65,000 people.
This group includes psychologists, social workers and various professionals working in health and social services such as laboratory technicians, physiotherapists, nutritionists, etc.
We can therefore expect delays in medical imaging, for example, or in access to social workers. But again, employees working in more urgent sectors, such as youth protection, will not be able to change their schedule much.
The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) also represents support and office staff whose activities may be slow.
Education
In education, the situation should vary from one school to another. Indeed, tens of thousands of teachers at the primary and secondary levels are affiliated to a union which is not in the common front, the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE).
On the other hand, no less than 95,000 teachers are on strike. These are attached to the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ). The majority work in the French-speaking network, but 8,000 teachers in English-speaking school boards are affected.
Overall, the school network risks being quite disrupted since the common front also represents thousands of support employees and people working in daycare services.
In addition, school service centers (formerly school boards) have a large number of employees in the common front.
Daycares and the government
Parents of children attending daycare should not worry too much. The Minister of Families Suzanne Roy emphasized this on Wednesday: daycare educators are not part of the common front.
Government services are also not expected to be affected by the conflict immediately because state personnel are attached to other unions. The same goes for state corporations.
More details will follow.