Interviews
Latest Offer Does Nothing to Make Up for 20 Years of Losses
- Jeff Begley, President,
Federation of Health and Social Services
(FSSS-CSN) -
Workers' Forum: On December 12,
the Quebec government presented its offers to
union representatives as part of the negotiation
of collective agreements for public sector
workers. What is the opinion of the FSSS on
these offers?
Jeff Begley: It is clear that the
offer is disconnected from the needs in the
field. We have problems with employee retention
and recruitment, and this problem exists in all
categories of work in the sector. The government
is saying that it is going to single out
contracts for caregivers and new teachers for
improvement. However, we just heard the
professional orders talking about the problems
they have in attracting professionals to the
public sector. Those who are completely
forgotten here are the people who work on the
administrative side, office workers and
administrative agents. We never talk about them
but there too there is a serious problem of
retention and recruitment.
This offer does nothing to make up for what we
have lost over the last close to 20 years, and
especially since the 2006 negotiation, which was
the first negotiation with the Liberal Party.
That began with an offer of a zero per cent
increase in the first two years. According to
us, the sector has lost about 20 per cent over
nearly 20 years in terms of inflation. For the
people in the administration, we are referring
to low-paid workers and if the offer does not
keep up with inflation, so they are going to
suffer a further loss for another five years if
a serious negotiation does not take place.
The other surprising thing is the attempt to
sow divisions with this offer. We knew they were
going to divide caregivers and new teachers from
other public sector employees, but they also
offered a lump sum of $1,000 for those at the
top of their wage scale. According to the
President of the Treasury Board, approximately
54 per cent of public sector workers are at the
top of their wage scale. So there are 46 per
cent who will not receive the $1,000 lump sum.
In addition, there are people who have a wage
scale with only one level. They could be hired
on March 30 and on March 31 they will receive
the $1,000 while others who may have been in the
sector for 15 years but are not yet at the top
of the scale will not be entitled to the $1,000.
This will sow bickering. The President of the
Treasury Board did not explain why he is
proposing this. There may be an issue that we do
not see, but one thing is certain, whether it is
intentional or not, the result will be to divide
our people. There are some who are going to be
very upset, that's for sure, and rightly so.
WF: The President of the Treasury
Board said he had adopted an innovative approach
to these negotiations, notably with discussion
forums on government priorities for which
additional amounts are to be made available.
What is your view on that?
JB: On the issue of forums, we
haven't finished our analysis but our first
reaction is that we have to test what it is they
are offering us. We have to participate. There
are solutions that would not have the effect of
dividing people and we have to see if there will
be an opening for that. But if the President of
the Treasury Board already has his mind made up,
and these are just to get his ideas across, it's
not going to go well. If there is an opening to
discuss, then there may be ways to resolve some
problems but we do not want the goal to be to
divide and conquer, like dividing the caregivers
and new teachers from the others. It will not
pass if that is the government's aim.
WF: Is there anything you want to
say in conclusion?
JB: At the FSSS, we have asked
for a $3 an hour wage increase for everyone for
the first year, to meet their basic needs. For
the employees at the bottom of the scale it is a
substantial increase while for the professional
at the top of the scale this represents a much
smaller percentage increase. At the same time,
for the professionals, this amount is important
because it lowers the wage gap between those in
the public versus the private sector.
I think that in presenting this offer the
government did not take stock of the seriousness
of the situation in the public sector. If there
is no significant negotiated improvement of our
conditions, public sector problems will get
worse and it will be the public service as a
whole that will suffer once again.
This article was published in
Number 31 - December 19, 2019
Article Link:
Interviews: Latest Offer Does Nothing to Make Up For 20 Years of Losses - Jeff Begley, President,
Federation of Health and Social Services
(FSSS-CSN)
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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