The Couillard government and Quebec's 540,000 public servants appear to be headed for a major confrontation over wages and retirement.
The government presented its salary offers Monday, and they include a wage freeze for the first two years and a 1 per cent increase for each of the following three years.
The unions have a much different idea – they have already said they want a 13.5 per cent wage increase over three years.
The government wants to balance the budget by cutting salaries for public servants, including office workers, nurses and teachers.
The two-year wage freeze would also help the government reach a balanced budget by spring 2016.
The Liberal government also plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.
Treasury Board President Martin Coiteux said he's been telling the unions for months now just how tight things are.
“They know that we won't increase taxes on Quebecers to finance increases in salary,” said Coiteux. “We won't do that because Quebecers are already too heavily taxed so we won't do that and they know that we have no intention to postpone the return to a budget balance so they know what the parameters are so they shouldn't be so surprised.”
The unions are furious. While more protests are likely, they say they first want to sit down and try to negotiate, although the tone right now is pretty harsh.
They feel the government needs to boost wages so workers can catch up after years of low salary hikes that haven't kept up with inflation.
They believe the Liberal government has little more than contempt for public sector workers, and they say some union members may rush to retirement before this new contract is brought in
“It's five pages of contempt for men and women who work daily with students and patients… It's more than we even imagined and worse than our worst nightmares,” said Sylvain Mallette, president of the Federation autonome de l’enseignement.
