MONTREAL -- Outgoing Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) union president Sonia Éthier is warning members Monday to be prepared to fight budget cuts after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her farewell address at the union's annual convention, Éthier denounced conversations around budgeting, stating the pandemic isn't even over yet.

She argues Quebec will always be "one crisis away from deconstructing social gains" and notes this time, the government has gone "so far as to suspend democracy," leaving central unions as the "ultimate watchdog" when it comes to defending workers and protecting public services.

Éthier says that the pandemic highlighted the fragility of many workplaces, as well as the vulnerability of networks after years of cutbacks -- to the point that the military had to be called in to fill the gaps.

UNION SOLIDARITY BREAKING DOWN

Éthier says she believes the biggest threat to labour relations is the breakdown of union solidarity through actions that undermine the reach of the major groups and fragment solidarity on a large scale.

She urged her members not to lose sight of the struggles they are waging  together, noting it was the large unions that brought about minimum wage, maternity leave and lead the march towards pay equity.

"François Legault and the CAQ's dearest wish for the workforce is to increase the number of organizations that are vulnerable to blackmail and government pressure and whose fight is limited to defending their members' working conditions," she said. "Don't be fooled."

She insists, "the Legault government is ready to do everything in its power to weaken us in favour of unions that are easier to manipulate. It is not for nothing that this government has rushed to negotiate and conclude agreements with independent unions, while ignoring major organizations."

Éthier says she said she sees this as "a threat to the maintenance of our social safety net" and called on members to resist any potential cuts.

"It's up to us to continue to say, 'no' to the visionless approaches that have stifled our workplaces and sacrificed our well-being for 25 years by causing overworking, under-resourcing and undervaluing," she said.

-- this report was first published by The Canadian Press in French on June 28, 2021.