Meetings with union members begin on common front deal with Quebec

Public-sector workers would get at least 17.4 per cent in pay raises over five years and inflation protection for the final three years of the tentative deal.

Author of the article:

La Presse Canadienne

Lia Lévesque

Published Jan 14, 2024 • 2 minute read

FTQ president Magali Picard responds to questions at a news conference on Dec. 20, 2023, in Quebec City. Union leaders of the public sector common front will present to its members beginning Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, an agreement in principle reached with the Quebec government on Dec. 28. From left, Francois Henault of the CSN, Eric Gingras of the CSQ, Magali Picard of the FTQ and Robert Comeau of the APTS. Photo by Jacques Boissinot /The Canadian Press

Starting Monday, the 420,000 unionized public-sector workers in the common front of four major provincial unions representing education and health-care workers will be voting on the agreement in principle reached regarding their collective agreements.

The workers, who belong to the CSQ, APTS, FTQ and CSN, will begin voting Monday on the tentative deal reached Dec. 28 with the Quebec government.

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The workers, who will have the opportunity to get details and ask questions of their representatives before deciding, have until Feb. 19 to weigh in.

Union presidents have said in recent days they were comfortable with the agreement and know their members are eager to see the contents of the tentative deals.

FTQ president Magali Picard said a few days ago she was “extremely comfortable with, very proud of, what was negotiated” by the common front.

CSQ president Éric Gingras also sounded optimistic. “We think we are presenting something interesting,” he said.

Josée Scalabrini, president of the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE), said in an interview “members look forward to being presented with these agreements.” They anticipate attending several assemblies during the next few weeks, she said.

Members of the FSE, affiliated with the CSQ, walked off the job for eight days in November and December before coming to a draft settlement, whereas the independent Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) struck for more than a month to arrive at the same result.

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Scalabrini would not blame the FAE for its strategy.

“I would never, never evaluate the strategy of another organization,” she said. “But I think that the strategy we used, based on what our members are telling us and on what I have heard until now, was a good strategy: to work with all the public-sector employees, which led us where it led us, with coordinated sequences of strikes.”

The agreement in principle reached by the common front on Dec. 28 includes at least 17.4 per cent in pay raises over five years and inflation protection for the final three years of the deal.

It means a pay increase of 6 per cent as of April 1, 2023, 2.8 per cent as of April 1, 2024, 2.6 per cent as of April 1, 2025, 2.5 per cent as of April 2026 and 3.5 per cent as of April 1, 2027.

The deal also provides for improvements in vacations and group insurance plans.

At the sectoral level, several health-care unions have already disclosed the contents of their agreement even before members become acquainted with them in their assemblies.

For example, in the health sector, the unions obtained improved bonuses and overtime, in addition to greater participation in managing their schedules.

But the province is still negotiating with a major health-care worker union, the 80,000-member Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, which said it would not make public comments until Monday in order to focus on negotiations.

With files from The Canadian Press

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