(Quebec) The Commons union is issuing an ultimatum to the frontline government: if an agreement is not reached by the end of the year, its 420,000 workers will go on indefinite general strike in January. And he warns that this is not an empty threat.
During a press conference with other union leaders of the General Front on Wednesday, FTQ president Magali Pickard argued that “there is no confusion” and that “the situation is serious.”
He believes that union members will always benefit from the “capital of sympathy” of the population. He added that “we don’t have this concern” about losing support, stressing that the government’s rating “seems to be coming down significantly”. “He’s in free fall,” he insisted.
Photo by Jacques Bosinot, Press of Canada
Magali Picard
François Enault, vice-president of the CSN, lamented that the progress of the negotiations was 5 out of 10 in the sectoral index on working conditions and 6.5 out of 10 in the central index on salaries.
In all the tables, “the observation is the same: a lot of noise, currently few results,” said Eric Gingras, president of CSQ. The Federation of Education Societies (FSE-CSQ) on Tuesday rejected the government’s new offer, calling it a “stupidity” and a “setback in negotiations”. In order to “get an agreement before the holidays”, he presented a counter-proposal on Wednesday morning, which was based on “teachers’ priorities, such as class composition and reducing workload”.
According to the Common Front, it is still possible to reach an agreement before Christmas or the end of the year. But there would be an indefinite general strike in the event of a deadlock, he warned, without immediately setting a date for the walkout. The General Front’s indefinite general strike will lead to the closure of all public schools in Quebec and reduced operations in the health and social service network.
According to Robert Goma, president of APTS, “The government does not understand the urgency of addressing the situation.” “We want serious negotiations,” said Magali Picard. For François Enault, a “blitz” is needed to settle employment contracts. “A blitz means we have to meet for more than 15 minutes a day!” he said.
“The 11 days we had on strike, we were very good players,” he said. We don’t want to hold people hostage. We did it right. But the government, it wants, wants to bring us to an indefinite general strike. If he wants it, he will get it. But that is not what we want. What we want is to properly regulate the working environment for our members. »
In order to secure an agreement, the government must give clear mandates to its negotiators on the sectoral table and not limit itself to presenting its priorities, including popular flexibility in joint conditions, the General Front affirms. In salary, he currently does not account for an indexation rule and a “supplement” to cover cost-of-living increases.
“We’re not going back on our knees,” warned Magali Picard. “We will not accept working conditions that do not improve our networks. »
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