Over 420,000 Quebec public sector employees engaged in strike motion on Monday, November 6 in one of many largest for the reason that basic strike of 1972.
Like that strike greater than 50 years in the past, the unions representing these employees have joined collectively as a Entrance Commun (Widespread Entrance in English).
The Entrance Commun is made up of the next unions: The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the Alliance du personnel professionnel et approach de la santé et des providers sociaux (APTS) and the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ). Collectively they signify lecturers, nurses, social service employees and plenty of different provincial authorities staff.
The unions are searching for higher wages and circumstances throughout the general public service sector and most not too long ago rejected a authorities provide made on October 28.
That supply, which included a pay improve of 10.3 per cent over 5 years, was met with outrage by the Entrance Commun, who level out that the Quebec Nationwide Meeting gave its elected members a pay improve of $30,000 a yr earlier this yr and the provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec a 21 per cent improve.
In line with the union, this price of pay improve would imply an efficient pay reduce, resulting from inflation. In line with the Entrance Commun’s projections, inflation can be greater than seven per cent greater than the wage improve provided by the federal government.
READ MORE: Quebec public sector employees face cuts as negotiations press on
Extra strikes coming
On Monday, the Entrance Commun acknowledged that until a deal might be reached, three extra strike dates are deliberate from Tuesday, November 21 to Thursday, November 23.
“For a interval of 72 consecutive hours, every little thing in Quebec might be closed for 3 days,” stated CSN vice-president François Enault at a press convention on Monday.
Past the problems round pay, the Entrance Commun can also be looking for further assurances from the federal government on problems with pensions and parental depart.
“Proper now, we’ve trimmed our calls for in any respect the sectoral tables. However one factor is for certain: employees’ expectations are excessive,” reads a assertion from the Entrance Commun.