Unions demonstrate at Legault's CAQ convention, denounce slow contract negotiations

Sherbrooke -

Unhappy with the progress of negotiations, the common front of public sector unions is becoming impatient and threatening to strike.

The union members are particularly outraged by the $30,000 salary raise for elected officials that the Legault government wants to adopt through a bill tabled this week.

On Saturday, a thousand union members demonstrated in front of the Sherbrooke Exhibition Centre, where François Legault's Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is holding its convention this weekend.

"We are asking for a $100 increase per week for all public sector workers, but they are going to give themselves a $582 increase per week, and they are telling us that $100 is too much," said François Enault, first vice-president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), in an interview with The Canadian Press during the demonstration.

"At some point, what's good for kitty is good for pitty!"

The convention was held under heavy security, and protesters were kept at bay, with an imposing perimeter of barriers, a large police presence on foot and horseback, search procedures at the entrance to the building, etc.

But the union members had a message for the CAQ activists gathered to support the government and give a vote of confidence to François Legault.

"When militants of the same party are together, everything is fine, we give each other pats on the back, but it's important to see that outside, it's real people, people who work for the people of Quebec," said Robert Comeau, president of the Alliance of Professional and Technical Health Personnel (APTS).

Union leaders complained that negotiations are only moving forward on issues the government wants to address but not on matters workers want to address.

"When the government 'spins' with two or three priorities, while we have several, we are not able to move forward," commented Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ).

Enault believes the only bargaining table in Quebec where the employer is asking its employees to back down is the one between the government and public sector workers.

"There is no negotiation in the private sector where we are asking for rollbacks while the government is asking us for rollbacks in the pension plan. That is unacceptable!"

The unions are denouncing the slow pace of negotiations and are mobilizing the troops.

"We are preparing the movement, and in the fall, it is certain that if things are not going well, we will go to our members to consult them, and if we have to go there, there will be a strike," assured Gingras.

"The goal is not to go on strike. We're preparing for it," Comeau said, adding that it takes at least six months of preparation to undertake a strike in the public sector.

"We don't want to go there, we still think we're capable of getting along at the (bargaining) tables, but we're preparing the whole thing the same. We have no choice."

The collective agreements for the government's 600,000 employees expired on March 31.

Quebec has so far offered wage increases of 9 per cent over five years, plus a lump sum of $1,000 and an amount equivalent to 2.5 per cent reserved for "government priorities." Quebec says it is offering up to 13 per cent over five years.

The common front is asking for a $100 per week increase or the consumer price index (CPI) plus 2 per cent for the first year of the contracts, whichever is more advantageous to workers, then CPI plus 3 per cent for the second year and CPI plus 4 per cent for the third year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 13, 2023.