It’s Official: Public Sector Unions Want $3 per Hour Pay Increase in the First Year of a New Contract

October 31, 2019

Quebec City 2015 contract negotiations mobilization.

After spending a year consulting with members, the CSN’s public sector federations officially filed with the Central Table (Conseil du trésor) their salary rate increase demands.

Unions that represent health and social services, education and government organizations employees are seeking a $3 per hour increase in the first year of the new collective agreement for all network workers.

The second and third year of the contract would give workers a pay rate increase of $1 per hour or 3 per cent, whichever is most advantageous for the employee.

The original proposal presented to the FSSS-CSN Council was a $3 per hour increase in the first year and a 3 per cent raise for each of the other two years. This was opposed by Category 2 (support staff) and 3 (office staff), who requested a fixed $1 per hour increase for each of the last two years.

Category 2 and 3 includes employees who earn the least in the public health and social service sector. During the last contract negotiations, a large number of office staff received a 5.25 per cent pay rate increase over the five-year contract.

The union federations also want the new collective agreement to include an inflation protection clause. This ensures pay rate increases for the duration of the three-year contract equals Quebec annual inflation increases (CPI Quebec) plus .5 per cent.

During the current contract negotiations, unions had demanded a 13.5 per cent pay rate increase over three years. The government proposed a three per cent increase over five years. The unions accepted a pay rate increase of 5.25 per cent over five-years.

Falls Short of MUHCEU Council $9 Proposal

The MUHCEU union council, comprised of elected delegates from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), at the last union council adopted a proposition stating that the hourly pay rate demands should be, $4 the first year, $3 second and $2 for the last year of the contract.

A council member who supported the proposition and spoke with MB in the condition their name no be published, “A medical secretary at the top echelon (7) earns $23.22 an hour, a cashier at Costco earns $28.25 an hour, so our proposition is quite reasonable.”

There is no mention of the MUHCEU council proposition in yesterday’s FSSS-CSN news release.