While several strikes are planned this week, the Union Common Front, which has been negotiating with the Quebec government for several months to renew the collective agreements of public sector workers, has called for the appointment of an arbitrator to bring the parties closer together. , according to our sources.
In response to a question on the subject on Montreal’s Tout un matin on ICI Première, Finance Ministry president Sonia LeBel said she was not against the idea and that she would give her answer “shortly.”
It must be said that it is just a minute to midnight for civil servants and the Legault government as three strikes are scheduled to be declared in Quebec this week.
The first strike, which will take place from Tuesday to Friday (November 21-23), will be that of the Common Front, which includes the CSN, the APTS, the CSQ and the FTQ, which together represent 420,000 government employees. This three-day strike will affect health and social services as well as schools and CEGEPs.
On Thursday, the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), which includes 80,000 nurses and health professionals, will join the movement and leave on November 23rd and 24th.
As for teachers, 66,000 members of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) will launch an indefinite general strike starting Thursday (November 23).
Meanwhile, impasse remains at the negotiating table, despite an additional three days of talks between the government and unions this week.
CSN leader Caroline Senneville was interviewed on ICI RDI this morning and reiterated that union members were very determined to improve their working conditions and that an agreement was still possible before the holidays, but there was still a lot of work to be done .
I went on strike, but I never had the same feeling as I did on the picket line on November 6th. “Our votes were 95%,” emphasizes Ms. Senneville.
“The first decision we make when we go on strike is to withhold pay,” she recalls.
This strike vote is a cry for help. It is our members who tell us: “We just can’t take it anymore. Something has to happen.”
Sonia LeBel was upset
On the other side of the negotiating table, the President of the Ministry of Finance, Sonia LeBel, denounces the rigidity of the unions, which, according to her, have categorically refused for months to change their demands in order to find common ground.
The unions’ response is to reject the fourth offer altogether…Negotiation is not all or nothing. We have to find solutions. That’s what I tell them when I ask them for a counteroffer. “This means that there needs to be movement on the issues that are essential for an agreement,” emphasized the minister at the microphone of the program “Tout une matin”, broadcast on ICI Première.
Ms. LeBel called on the unions to take into account the situation prevailing in Quebec, explaining that, for example, it was impossible for her to immediately reduce the ratio of students in classes due to the lack of new teachers. “I don’t have any teachers to provide,” she repeated. We have to find solutions.
More details to follow.