By Fabrice Blais-Savoie – Contributor

Quebec’s public sector employee unions are threatening a coordinated strike after stalled negotiations with the provincial government. The government is sticking to its previously proposed nine per cent salary increase over five years for the public and para-public sector workers. This has led to an uproar by unions, demanding that the government be more realistic about current inflation which the unions claim is going to total 16.4 per cent over the next five years. They say this would create a situation where the real salary of their members would decrease by 7.4 per cent over these five years. 

Every year, unions from around the province meet to renegotiate collective bargaining agreements. Because Quebec has a particularly high unionization rate of 37 per cent compared to the Canadian average of 29 per cent, this ritual has a notable impact on the province and usually receives considerable media coverage.

As the first real post-pandemic renegotiation, this year has seen important topics brought up, notably remote work and inflation. To tackle these complex issues, the public and para-public unions have revived the Front Commun, ​​an association created in 1972 by the five biggest union groups, which together represent over 420,000 employees: the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec and the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux.

A coordinated strike between the unions would inevitably lead to a complete shutdown of the province. This is because these unions include workers from large swathes of society. Workers range from healthcare to primary, secondary, collegial education and some universities – not including Bishop’s – as well as some public servants in ministries and agencies. However, it is important to note that unions have promised to respect the provincial union board’s decisions about maintaining essential services.

The government’s proposed nine per cent salary increase for these workers comes after the CAQ and Liberal party recently pushed through a 30 per cent salary increase for the elected members of the National Assembly. Also to note, the recent negotiations with the Sureté du Québec, the provincial police force, have led to an agreement for a 21 per cent salary increase over five years. 

Adding to this already tenuous situation is the historical gap between the salaries of Quebec’s provincial public sector employees and comparable federal or municipal employees. In 2022, Quebec’s salaries were on average 30 per cent lower. The gap is set to widen with the most recent federal government agreement enshrining a 12.6 per cent wage increase over four years.

The government has responded to the criticism by emphasizing that these salaries come from public funds and that they do not intend to increase taxes to pay for them. 

As these unions have the right to strike at the end of September, Premier François Legault fears “disruptions” and “strikes”, which would include 600,000 public sector workers.