(Quebec) The Common Union Front is giving the government an ultimatum: If there is no agreement by the end of the year, its 420,000 workers will go on an indefinite general strike in January. And this is not an empty threat, he warns.
Published at 9:16 am. Updated at 9:54 a.m
“There is no bluff”, “the situation is serious”, argued the president of the FTQ, Magali Picard, during a press conference with the other union leaders of the Common Front on Wednesday.
She believes that union members always benefit from the “likeability capital” of the population. “We are not afraid” of losing support, she added, stressing that the government’s rating “seems to be falling significantly.” “He’s in free fall,” she insisted.
The progress of the negotiations is almost 5 out of 10 at the sectoral tables on working conditions and 6.5 out of 10 at the central table on salaries, complained the vice-president of the CSN, François Enault.
At all tables “the observation is the same: a lot of noise, few results at the moment,” said the president of the CSQ, Éric Gingras. The Federation of Education Trade Unions (FSE-CSQ) rejected the government's new offer on Tuesday, saying it was a “show of nonsense” and “a setback in the talks”.
According to the Common Front, it is still possible to reach an agreement by Christmas or the end of the year. In the event of a stalemate, however, there will be an unlimited general strike, he warns, without immediately setting a date for triggering a strike.
According to APTS President Robert Comeau, “the government does not understand the urgency of resolving the situation.” “We want intensive negotiations,” said Magali Picard. For François Enault, a “lightning” is needed to regulate employment contracts. “And a flash is that we should meet for more than 15 minutes a day! ” he said.
“In the 11 days of strike we had, we were very good players,” he added. We didn't want to take the population hostage. We did that right. But it seems that the government wants this, they want to drag us into an indefinite general strike. If that's what he wants, he'll get it. But that's not what we want. Our goal is to properly regulate the working conditions for our members. »
To reach an agreement, the government must give clear mandates to its negotiators at the sectoral tables and not limit itself to presenting its priorities, including the famous flexibility in tariff conditions, reiterates the Common Front. When it comes to salaries, he calls for an indexation clause to cover the increase in the cost of living and for “enrichment”, which he does not currently quantify.
“We will not return to our knees,” Magali warned Picard.