What Are We Fighting For – Why Quebec’s Public Sector Workers Voted to Strike

The public sector rotating strikes start across Quebec on Monday October 26, 2015.

Photo: Rawpixel.com / Pexels

The 6 day rotating legal strikes involve workers from a coalition of public sector unions across Quebec,  referred to as the Common Front.   The rotating strikes start across Quebec on Monday October 26, 2015 and finish with three straight days of strikes Dec. 1, 2 and 3.

For the Montreal region the first strike date is scheduled for October 29, followed by strikes days on November 16 – 17 with the final three days at the start of December.

What is the Common Front?

The Common Front is made up of the following five Quebec public sector unions representing over half a million members from health sector, education sector, and government office employees.

  • The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) the second largest Quebec union,
  • The Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ; Quebec Federation of Labour is the largest Quebec labour union),
  • The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) is the third biggest trade union in Quebec,
  • Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ),
  • L’Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS)

The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), which represents 34,000 teachers, has received a mandate from its memebrs to hold legal strikes. The labour organization as in principle publicly stated their memebrs will respect the Common Front’s picket lines.

What are we fighting for?

Our current contract ended on March 31, 2015, but remains in vigour until a new agreement is signed or decreed. Below is a list of some of the issues.

Decent wage increase
The unions are asking for an increase of 13.5% over 3 years. The government is offering a three per cent raise (0-0-1-1-1% ) over the five year contract. 

Premiums
The Employers’ side wants to remove all our premiums. This will further reduce our buying power.

Work Shifts
The Employers’ side wants to allow the employer to schedule and rotate the shifts as they see fit. This would mean that they can rotate your work days and days off. This applies to full-time and Part-time employees.

Overtime Pay
The Employers’ side wants to base overtime on the week and not on the current 16 hours between shifts or the 24 hour clock for part-time employees. This would allow the employer to schedule an employee to back to back shifts and paid overtime. Overtime would only be applied if the weekly hours are exceeded.

Job Security
Currently anyone on job security can be assigned to another institution within a 50 KM radius. The Employers’ side wants to remove the distance limitation.

Sick Leave
The Employers’ side wants the employers physician to have the final word on the employees return to work date.

Pension
The Government wants to extend the early retirement age from 60 to 62 and base your earnings on the best 8 years instead of the current 5 years.  This will mean a reduce in the pension income.

Why we are forced to strike

Public healthcare workers inherited decent working conditions from previous generations, who fought hard and often paid a high price, union leaders in the 1972 strike were jailed.  In the last decades much of what had been gained from the 1972 landmark strike has been slowly eroded away.

The Government’s position to date has not been to negotiation fairly but to attack and not just on our salaries and benefits, but also on austerity, endangering the Quebec values for a decent quality of life. 

On the picket lines united we will stand for a decent quality of life, not just for us, but also for future generations. What will our legacy be?

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