More than a month after its last offer, the Legault government took a stand again on Wednesday afternoon, proposing an increased salary increase of 12.7% over five years to public sector workers currently under negotiation. However, the unions in the Common Front consider this increase to be insufficient and are sticking to their course towards a seven-day strike on Friday.
Quebec proposed a 10.3% increase over five years in late October. A proposal that “insulted and angered” the unions.
The new increase therefore represents an increase of 2.4 percentage points. The total supply increases to 16.7%. “We are committed to finding a solution quickly and invite unions to move forward with us. Now the work at the tables must continue,” explained the President of the Ministry of Finance, Sonia LeBel, in writing.
For its part, the Common Front (CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS) is demanding a salary increase of around 23% over three years. The new offer will “always lead to the impoverishment of public sector workers,” the union organizations responded in a written statement, citing inflation forecasts that they put at 18.1% for the same period.
“Without a clause guaranteeing the protection of purchasing power and enrichment of salary compensation (IPC+), it will not be possible to reach an agreement,” we add. The Joint Front is therefore sticking to the seven days of strike planned from December 8th to 14th. Their leaders will respond during a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday in Quebec.
The Legault government presented this new offer on Wednesday at around 3 p.m. to the unions of the Common Front, as well as the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) and the Professional Union of the Government of Quebec (SPGQ) and the Union of Public and Parapublic Services of Quebec (SFPQ).
Dissatisfied teachers
The gap between the Legault government and the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ), which in turn received a sectoral offer on Tuesday, is still wide.
“It is far, far from living up to your expectations and the expectations of your representatives,” emphasized Josée Scalabrini, president of the Federation of Education Trade Unions, in a video broadcast on Wednesday morning. We are still looking for an agreement that would significantly change your daily life. »
Quebec made an “exploratory deposit” on Tuesday, she adds, because “they want the negotiations to be out of the media.” “I want to tell you that we will comply with all the decisions of the Prime Minister and the President of the Ministry of Finance. If they don’t appear in the media, we won’t appear in the media either,” explained Josée Scalabrini.
An offer was also made to the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), whose members have been on an indefinite general strike since November 23, on Monday evening.
Prime Minister François Legault also appeared open to taking a look at teachers’ pay scales on Wednesday. “It’s on the table,” he said simply to reporters. There are several suggestions. »
For his part, Education Minister Bernard Drainville hopes for a “negotiated agreement”. “There are a lot of things on the table right now,” he said. “There are class assistants, there are 5,000 other employees, there are vacancies for professional autonomy and class composition,” he listed. In particular, in exchange for improved salary offers, Quebec is hoping for union proposals to “improve the start of the school year” so that teachers are assigned to a class more quickly at the start of the school year.