Montreal museum professionals renew collective agreement

The Musee national des beaux-arts in Quebec City. SOURCE: Wikicommons/Creative commons

Some 200 professionals at three museums have just renewed their collective agreement for a period of six years.

They are curators, exhibition managers, computer analysts and administrative workers who are members of the Syndicat des professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ). They work at the Musée d'art contemporain, the Musée de la civilisation and the Musée national des beaux-arts.

The SPGQ conducted group negotiations, for the first time, with these three different employers who receive their financial framework from the Treasury Board.

In an interview on Tuesday, SPGQ president Guillaume Bouvrette explained that the group negotiations made it possible to standardize salary structures for people who have the same tasks in different museums.

Salaries will increase at the same rate as those obtained by the public sector for 2020 to 2023, i.e. 2 per cent per year. For the next three years, these workers will have the same increases as the public sector.

The SPGQ also negotiated clauses on the treatment of victims of domestic violence and on telework.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 2, 2023