After a 24-hour break aimed at allowing everyone to celebrate Christmas, negotiations between the Quebec government and public sector unions will resume on Tuesday. In particular, we will monitor the central table where salaries and pensions are negotiated.
At all sectoral tables of the Common Front, compromises were found on the issue of flexibility, be it in the education or health sectors. The question is whether the salary increases would meet expectations, said former trade unionist Marc Ranger in an interview with RDI.
He emphasizes that nothing has been won yet and that approval of most of these solution hypotheses depends on agreement at the central table. The Common Front wants the pay rise to be enough to counteract inflation but also allow for some enrichment of its members, while the government must try to stay within its budget without humiliating the unions.
Two important trade union organizations, the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) and the Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ), still have no hypotheses about fundamental agreements at the industry tables where the working conditions apply.
The same applies to education professionals affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), who have already agreed to continue negotiations on December 28th.
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Marc Ranger, former director of CUPE in Quebec.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Jacques Boissinot
If Mr Ranger is relatively optimistic about the presence of an arbitrator for the FIQ, he believes that the pressure on the FAE is enormous.
I do not understand at all how we could continue the indefinite general strike of January 8th or 9th with the agreement in principle reached by the other major player (FSE-CSQ), which represents 60% of teachers.
“We have to expect a result quickly, otherwise it will be untenable, especially for the FAE,” he added.
By Christmas Eve, almost all of the 420,000 members of the Common Front had reached preliminary agreements in principle. However, these must be ratified by their respective bodies and then approved by their members before they can be finalized. It is :
Health :
- APTS (Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Care) – 65,000 members
- FSSS-CSN (Federation of Health and Social Services) – 120,000 members in the public sector
- FP-CSN (Professional Association) – 8,000 members, specializing in health and education
- FSQ-CSQ (Quebec Health Federation – 5000 members)
- SQEES-298-FTQ (Quebec Union of Service Employees, Local Section 298) – 25,000 members
- CPAS-SCFP (Provincial Council of Social Affairs, affiliated with SCFP and FTQ) – 30,000 members
Training :
- FPSES-CSQ (Federation of Personnel Supporting Higher Education) – 4,300 members
- FEC-CSQ (Federation of College Education) – 3000 members
- FPPE-CSQ (Federation of Education Professionals) – 10,000 members
- FPPC-CSQ (Federation of Professional College Staff) – 2000 members
- FSE-CSQ (Federation of Education Unions) – 95,000 members
- FPSS-CSQ (Federation of School Support Personnel) – 40,000 members
- FNEEQ-CSN (National Federation of Teachers of Quebec) – 35,000 members
- FEESP-CSN (Federation of Public Service Employees) – 35,000 members
- SEPB-FTQ (Trade Union of Professional and Office Workers) – 15,000 members
- UES-800-FTQ (Service Employees Union) – 20,000 members
- CPC-SCFP (College Council, affiliated with CUPE and FTQ) – 12,000 members
- CPSS-CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees, affiliated with CUPE and FTQ) – 7,500 members