One Year
of Government Refusal to Negotiate with Public Sector Workers
The Quebec Government's Irresponsible and Dangerous Position -
Pierre Chénier -  
The Quebec government is taking a dangerous and
irresponsible stand with regard to Quebec public sector workers'
attempts to negotiate new collective agreements. Although their
collective agreements expired on March 31, 2020, after more than a year
at the negotiation table with the government and their employers,
nothing has moved. On
the one hand, the Quebec government has shown no intention of
withdrawing its March 21 ministerial order which gives the executive
the power to cancel all negotiated collective agreements for workers in
the health and social services sector, so that it can change working
conditions at will. The Legault government has been very quiet about
this aspect of the ministerial orders. Clearly this acts as a sword of
Damocles hanging over the heads of workers, as any collective agreement
they negotiate can be rendered null and void. The Legault government
must immediately withdraw this ministerial order.  Meanwhile,
for over a year now, the same government has refused to negotiate with
public sector workers on the basis of their demands. On this it has
been very manipulative. Government claims it wants new collective
agreements to be signed as soon as possible so that full attention can
be paid to the pandemic and hopes that an agreement is possible with
the unions. At the same time, at the bargaining tables, it invokes the
same worn out neo-liberal arguments put forward by governments for over
30 years, that its fiscal framework is tight and is even making demands
for concessions.
In doing so, not only is it negating the rights and just
demands of workers, it is also placing their safety and that of the
communities at risk, as these demands are the necessary ingredient to
overcome the second wave of the pandemic, the government's professed
aim! Workers can see that the anti-social offensive that has
wrecked the society
for over thirty years is being pursued within the conditions of this
crisis, with this crisis being used as the pretext. The
argument of a tight fiscal framework does not hold.
It is based on the false claim that the pandemic must unavoidably lead
to an economic collapse, the burden of which is to be shifted onto the
people. This framework has been decided by the cartel parties on the
basis of the demand that the rich must be paid under all circumstances.
People
have no say in what is referred to as the "framework." This
is the time to think and act in favour of the
people and the society in this difficult situation. The demands of the
public sector must be met, both as a matter of rights and of urgency.
Public discussion must take place to examine how to get the
necessary public revenue to finance public services, including
providing public
sector workers with the wages and working conditions they require to
provide the services. The demand to Stop Paying the Rich; Increase
Investments in Social Programs! provides a guideline for
action within
these circumstances. Preconceived notions that there is no
alternative to the neo-liberal wrecking of society and that we must
abandon
our demands must be rejected. All out to demand
that real negotiations be held with public sector workers on the basis
of their demands!
This article was published in
Number 73 - October 27, 2020
Article Link:
One Year
of Government Refusal to Negotiate with Public Sector Workers: The Quebec Government's Irresponsible and Dangerous Position -
Pierre Chénier
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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