By my calculations, each day of strike by all public and semi-public sector workers is expected to “save” the Quebec government about $150 million in wages.
For each block of three full days of strike, like those scheduled to take place across the province next week from November 21 to 23, the Legault government will “save” around $450 million.
This corresponds to approximately 1.15% of the wage bill for state employees.
Note to the 420,000 members of the CSN/FTQ/CSQ/APTS Joint Front, the 66,500 members of the FAE and the 80,000 members of the FIQ: Here is the amount of salary loss per strike day that each of you will “leave”. into the state treasury, depending on your annual salary. In brackets you will find the amount of wage loss per block of three strike days.
- $40,000: $154 ($462)
- $50,000: $192 ($576)
- $60,000: $231 ($693)
- $70,000: $269 ($807)
- $80,000: $308 ($924)
- $90,000: $346 ($1038)
- $100,000: $385 ($1155)
Fact that needs to be taken into account. However, thanks to their respective strike funds, strikers can recover some of their lost wages if the work stoppages last longer than three to five days. For example, CSN union members could receive compensation of about $315 per week for each block of five strike days.
ON THE TABLE
The chairwoman of the Ministry of Finance and minister responsible for negotiations with civil servants, Sonia LeBel, estimates the salary increases agreed over five years at $8 billion so far. She speaks of an overall increase of 14.8%.
The Common Front of Trade Union Centers is demanding no less than 21% over three years. As you can see, the gap between the Legault government’s offer and the Common Front’s salary demands is immense.
Unfortunately, after strongly condemning the government’s latest offers, union leaders have not yet deemed it appropriate to present wage counteroffers.
In order to force the Legault government to significantly improve its salary offers, the union leaders “obviously” prefer to anticipate the triggering of the next days of strikes and the immense chaos that this will inevitably cause in the daily lives of families.
It is not certain whether the Common Front, the FAE and the FIQ can count on popular sympathy for the public servants’ wage issue for long if the strike lasts longer than three days. A large part of the population will certainly not like being held hostage for too long.
QUICK CALCULATION
If every three-day strike means a loss of $450 million in wages, that means state workers are leaving the equivalent of a 1% wage increase on the bargaining table.
We’re talking… If, unfortunately, all union members in the public and semi-public sector had to leave their jobs for 22 days, it would cost them $3.3 billion.
This represents the gap between the 14.8% increases currently offered by the CAQ government and the union demands of 21%!
FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES DURING STRIKE DAYS
According to the Communications Department of the Ministry of the Executive Council and the Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance, the losses suffered by employees during the strike days of public and parastatal employees are listed here.
During times when trade union organizations go on strike, their members effectively receive no salary.
When it comes to social benefits, utilization in the event of a strike is based on the collective agreement regulations.
For example, in the case of the Retirement Plan (RREGOP), the Retirement Plan Act for Government and Public Institutions Employees applies. Therefore, the employee is considered to be absent without pay on strike days.
The usual regulations on unpaid absence therefore apply to pension provision.
Absence of 30 consecutive days or less: maintenance of the employee’s compulsory contribution (the employer pays his contribution). When you return to work, your wages will be refunded.
Absence of more than 30 consecutive days: no obligation to pay contributions. If desired, the employee can buy back the period of unpaid absence so that it is recognized by the pension insurance (the employee must pay his contribution and that of the employer into the buy-back costs).
With group insurance, the maintenance of insurance coverage depends on the conditions set out in the various contracts concluded by the unions.
