Quebec public sector workers have voted 90% in favour of strike so far

Union leaders Eric Gingras, left to right, CSQ, Robert Comeau, APTS, Magali Picard, FTQ and François Énault, CSN march in a common front on Thursday, March 30, 2023 in front of the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The first strike votes taken by public sector common front unions show unequivocal support for a walkout.

Almost all the votes recorded during this first week of meetings, which have been made available to The Canadian Press, exceed 90 per cent support for the strike. However, not all of them have been made public yet.

The mandate being sought by the common front unions - the CSQ, CSN, APTS and FTQ - is an unlimited general strike, to be preceded by strike days, isolated or grouped together.

The votes held so far concern the health and social services sector as well as the education and CEGEP sectors.

For example, APTS members at regional health board - the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de Lanaudière - voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action. At the Shriners Hospital, members of the health and social services union Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) voted 100 per cent in favour of strike action. At CISSS de Laval: 96.2 per cent in favour of the strike.

The CSQ reported 93 per cent support for the strike from the Syndicat lavallois des employés du soutien scolaire, 96 per cent from the Syndicat des enseignants du Cégep de Sorel-Tracy and 97.2 per cent from the Syndicat de l'enseignement de l'Amiante. All three are union groups supporting the education sector.

The FTQ reports that some 20 assemblies have been held in the various affiliated unions to date, and that the votes "are all above 95 per cent." So far, the FTQ has mainly held meetings in the education sector; the health-care unions will be voting on the issue next week.

Among unions affiliated to CSN federations, support for the strike mandate was 99 per cent in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine health sector, 98 per cent among teachers at Collège Saint-Laurent and 97.5 per cent at the Centre de services scolaires de l'Estuaire.

General assemblies of union members are scheduled to take place until mid-October. Together, the four members of the common front represent 420,000 public service workers.

Quebec is offering all government employees a nine per cent increase over five years, plus a lump sum of $1,000 in the first year. Added to this is a sum equivalent to 2.5 per cent earmarked for "government priorities," making the offer worth 13 per cent over five years.

The common front is calling for a three-year contract: $100 a week or the Consumer Price Index plus 2 per cent in the first year, CPI plus 3 per cent in the second, and CPI plus 4 per cent in the third.

Collective agreements in the public and parapublic sectors expired on March 31. The common front's demands were tabled last fall; Quebec's offer in December.

The common front is organizing a major demonstration in Montreal on Saturday, to back up its demands and support public services, which are suffering as a result of staff shortages.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 22, 2023.