François Legault suggested that there could be a “major strike” on Halloween, but unions assure that this will not be the case.
• Also read – Public Sector Negotiations: The Common Front is Heading for a General Strike
“What we are hearing is that there will be a major strike on October 31,” the Prime Minister said on Tuesday in response to the very strict strike mandate given to the Public Sector Joint Front.
This statement caused surprise among unions, who stressed that they are not planning a strike on Halloween. “No strike on October 31st,” a QMI Agency spokesperson wrote.
“Discussions continue and the government should take seriously the strike vote of 95% of public sector workers, which will be exercised in due course,” it added.
In this context, Prime Minister Legault insisted that the salary increase proposed by the government was “appropriate” and “respects the ability of Quebecers to pay”.
“Yes, it is a differentiated offer,” he agreed. “So there are more salary increases for night nurses, for psychologists and for certain groups of employees. But to say that we will increase the wage bill of half a million workers in Quebec by 13% is not, in my opinion, an unreasonable offer.”
A few moments earlier, the President of the Ministry of Finance, Sonia Lebel, had for her part reiterated that “no one wants a strike” and regretted the “standstill” of the union position.
She recalled asking the unions to reduce their demands to a few priority requests. “If this priority is not made on the union side, we will never get there,” she said, adding that she believes the government has already achieved a lot.
It’s up to the government, say the oppositions
For their part, given the strength of the mandate that the Common Front has received from its members, the opposition parties are convinced that the ball is now in the government’s court.
“These are historic strike votes, 95%, this is huge,” reacted Québec Solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who believes that public service workers “sent an extremely clear message to the government,” e.g
“There is a basic principle that the government should be able to agree on with the unions,” he added. We shouldn’t become poorer by working in the public sector.”
For his part, PQ MP Joël Arseneau believes that the government now has “one knee on the ground”, especially given the state of public services.
“We are on the verge of collapse, in healthcare, in education and in child care,” he said. “The government would have the people behind it if it decided decisively to take measures to improve working conditions to improve services.”
As for the Liberals, they are calling on Sonia Lebel to stop negotiating in public spaces and instead focus on solving the problem.