Professionals from 10 CEGEPs will strike on December 14, their union announced on Thursday, just days after receiving a new strike mandate.
Members of the CEGEPs, represented by the Union of Professionals of the Government of Quebec (SPGQ), decried Thursday the government’s inaction and closure to union demands.
“According to the ISQ employee compensation report released this morning, we see that the state’s professional staff earn a salary that is 15.3% lower than that of professional staff from other organizations, including universities, and 13.7% lower than that of the private sector,” explained Guillaume Bouvrette, president of the SPGQ, in a press release.
“Quebec CEGEPs have become university and private sector school clubs. […] It is really unfortunate, the government needs to do better,” he added.
Mr Bouvrette emphasized in particular that, under these conditions, it is not possible to improve the recruitment and retention of skilled workers under current conditions.
The strike mandate was discussed at the general meetings from November 21st to 24th. At the end of these meetings, the approximately 25,000 members of the SPGQ adopted strike mandates that could extend to an indefinite general strike.
CEGEP employees represented by the union had already resigned from their jobs on November 23rd and 24th.
The institutions concerned are the Cégep André-Laurendeau, the Cégep de Jonquière, the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the Cégep de Lanaudière, the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, the Cégep de Sainte-Foy, the Cégep de Thetford and the Cégep de Trois-Rivières, the Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne and the Collège Montmorency.