The salary increases negotiated between the Common Front and the Legault government represent an additional burden of $11 billion per year for the state of Quebec.
• Also read – Common Front: The agreement in principle will be presented to 420,000 workers
The trade union federation confirmed last Wednesday that the agreement in principle reached with the government at the end of December provides for salary increases of 17.4% over five years.
According to our information, such an increase will cost the government $11 billion per year, although the government indicated during negotiations that a 1% increase would mean annual expenditure of about $600 million.
That's $2 billion more than the government's previous offer, which valued Quebec at $9 billion a year.
So if the agreement in principle is ratified by members of the Common Front in the coming weeks, the share of government spending dedicated to remunerating their employees will rise to over $70 billion per year, or 60.8% of total government spending , which will then amount to $115 billion annually.
At a press conference on Sunday, Common Front leaders announced that details of the package will be presented to members at a general meeting between January 15 and February 19. For the agreement to become a collective bargaining agreement, it must receive the support of more than 50% of the 420,000 workers represented by the union group in the education and health networks.
In addition to the salary increase, the agreement generally provides for a purchasing power protection clause for the last three years of the employment contract as well as improvements to the pension provision and the parental rights plan.