Que. public sector negotiations suspended until Dec. 26; unions reach tentative partial deals

After progress was made in negotiations to renew public sector collective agreements over the weekend, negotiations are suspended until after Christmas.

"Negotiations will continue on December 26, 2023," Treasury Board president Sonia LeBel wrote on X, formerly called Twitter, on Sunday evening.

The CSQ union also confirmed this information on X.

Over the past few days, several advances were made at sectoral tables in health and education, and multiple unions announced they had reached tentative agreements on working conditions -- but not on wages.

Late Sunday afternoon, the provincial government announced it had agreed to sectoral settlement proposals with nine CSQ-affiliated unions and all eight CSN-affiliated unions.

APTS and the CUPE's Conseil des collèges (colleges council), affiliated with the FTQ, also announced on Sunday that a tentative agreement was reached after a night of intensive work at the sectoral bargaining table.

The APTS represents 65,000 members in the health and social services sector.

"For just over a year, we have been working hard to improve the working and practice conditions of APTS member professionals and technicians, as well as better recognition of their expertise, in order to combat the labour shortage and work overload in our public network," said APTS President Robert Comeau in a press release Sunday morning.

"The gains achieved today would promote attraction and retention within our 108 job titles," said Comeau, whose union is part of the Common Front of public sector unions.

However, the APTS stressed that a tentative agreement must be reached at the central table before its general council submits any proposal to the vote of its members.

Late Sunday morning, the Quebec government confirmed the news, providing no details other than the agreement would last five years.

A few hours later, the Conseil des collèges, also a member of the Common Front, made a similar announcement. This union also reiterated that "this hypothetical settlement [was] linked to a settlement at the central table where wage issues are negotiated."

The Common Front, which includes the CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS, represents some 420,000 Quebec public sector workers in education, health and social services. It negotiates wages and pension plans at the central table.

On Saturday, the FSSS-CSN got the ball rolling by announcing it had reached a sectoral "hypothesis of agreement in principle" with Quebec. It represents 120,000 healthcare workers.

The agreement is for five years, from 2023 to 2028, and covers nearly 40 per cent of health and social services network personnel, according to Sonia LeBel's office.

SECTORAL AGREEMENTS IN EDUCATION

Around 9 p.m. on Saturday, the FPPE-CSQ announced a proposed sectoral settlement for the 58 French-language school service centers it represents.

"This proposal concerns the sectoral working conditions of professional staff and will be presented to the federation's federal council on December 27," the union said in a press release. The council must ratify the proposal before it can be presented to the membership.

The previous day, the FSE-CSQ and the QPAT ratified a proposed sectoral settlement with the Legault government as part of negotiations for the renewal of collective agreements.

The FSE-CSQ represents 95,000 teachers across the province, while QPAT represents teachers in the English-language school network.

A sectoral agreement in principle was also announced on Saturday evening by the FPPC-CSQ. The agreement covers more than 2,000 professionals in Quebec CEGEPs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 24, 2023.