MUHC CSN employees should reject the latest agreement in principle

child-at-auto-strike-1948-muhc-csn-employees-should-reject-tentative-agreement

OPINION

At the CSN FSSS Federal Council, on March 11, 2016, in Drummondville, Quebec, the majority of union delegates present voted to accepted the latest agreement in principle.

Four of the six delegates present representing the MUHC CSN Union officially deposited their dissidence, and I was one of the four. Therefore, I reserved my right to present to you my views on the agreement and recommendation that the union members reject the deal.

ABOUT THE AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE

  • The offer gives lower-wage workers no true-to-life salary gains. All public sector employees during the five-year contract will receive a 5.25 per cent salary rate increase. For years two, three and four, the salary increases are 1.5, 1.75 and 2% respectively.
  • The deal includes a freeze on salaries in the first and fifth years of the contract. Aside from the lump sums of approximately $500 the first and $250 the fifth year, the salary increase for the first and last year of the contract is zero.
  • ‘Salary Relativity’ an exercise to reduce the number of different pay scales in a way that is fair to the all categories of workers has started years ago. Union leaders clearly announced the process was supposed to be completed before the start of contract negotiations. Including them in the contract negotiations ‘artificially’ inflates pay rate increases.
  • Sixty per cent of the union members will receive a total salary increase of just over 6 per cent over five years. A far cry from the salary increases of 9.1 to 10.3 per cent over five years, union leaders announced publicly.
  • Retirement without penalty will increase from 60 to 61 years in 2019. Workers aged 60 who have accumulated 30 years of service will also be able to retire without being penalized.
  • The only modification to the original agreement in principle is $14.5 million per year towards the eight CSN Federations group insurance plan.

THE SELL-OUT

What may become the biggest sellout in Quebec labour history, happened on December 20, 2015, when the Common Front union leaders, representing 400,000 of the 500,000 public sector workers held a press conference.

During the Sunday press conference, the three union leaders FTQ President Daniel Boyer, CSN President Jacques Letourneau, and Lucie Martineau, spokesperson for the (SISP), announced that a tentative deal was struck Thursday, after a 13-hour negotiation blitz with Treasury Board President Martin Coiteux.

“Quebecers were left with the impression that Christmas had come early for the province’s public sector workers,” Robert Green, Ricochet.

The coalition of union representatives announced to the press that the mobilization made Quebec bend, resulting in an agreement that included wage increases of 10.25% over 5 years and put an end to the impoverishment of their members.

CSN President Jacques Létourneau said the first objective, to stop the further impoverishment of workers, had been attained with the new deal and considering inflation … workers should make up some lost ground in terms of salary.

THE FLIP-FLOP

The 110,000 members of the FSSS-CSN (Federation of Health and Social Services), the largest union in health and social services, making up over a quarter of the Common Front, supported their Federation leadership’s STRONG recommendation and rejected the deal.

Now the same FSSS-CSN leadership is STRONGLY recommending its members accept the modified deal. SHOCKINGLY it is exactly the same deal, the only modification is $14.5 million per year towards the eight CSN Federations group insurance plan.

WHY REJECT THE AGREEMENT?

David Sanschagrin wrote in the Huffington Post, “Were the union leaders afraid? Were they cowards? Are they more conservative than their base? Do they lack ambition? Were they not able to read the favorable situation that came their way? Difficult to answer these questions, but one thing remains, the Liberal government may be rubbing their hands: they had no cards in hand, yet they easily won the match and the population is left facing a social state in deterioration, a collective loss.”

Maybe the euphoria of the Holiday season got the best of the union leaders, or perhaps their six-figure salaries with expense accounts have separated them from the daily struggles endured by the lower-wage earners they represent.

Whatever the reason, one crucial question arises. Why would a union president boast about an agreement which gives 40 per cent of public health sector office staff a total five-year salary increase of 5.25 per cent? Sixty per cent of all the public health sector employees, including the salary relativity adjustment plus raise, will receive a five-year overall salary increase of just over 6 per cent.

Ashley Smith noted in Jacobin, that Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard “gave doctors, who comprise a significant constituency within the Liberal Party, a 42 percent wage increase; raised the salaries of ministers of the National Assembly by 31 percent; and finally bailed out Quebec’s aerospace manufacturer to the tune of $1.3 billion.”

The Common Front, rotating strikes is the most significant Labour movement in Quebec’s recent history. Nearly 450,000 people participated in the general strike of December 9, 2015.

The labour movement is supported by the majority of the province’s population with over two-thirds demanding the Government negotiate fairly with the unions and not impose back to work legislation (Decree).

MUHC CSN union members will vote on the agreement-in-principle on Saturday, April 23 and Monday, April 25. The voting locations are posted on the union boards.

Sources:

Update: This post has been update with files from three Our MUHC newsletters and two posts from the Blog of Manuel Fernandes, which were distributed between February and April 2016 to the MUHC CSN union membership.