Quebec Public Sector Negotiations
Unions Reject Government's Unacceptable Position
- Pierre Chénier -
 
Picket outside the National Assembly, May 6, 2021.
Following the May 2 meeting with Quebec Premier François Legault
and Treasury Board President Sonia Lebel several public sector union
leaders who represent 550,000 workers, held a press conference in which
they stated that the meeting was not held to solve the problem of
advancing negotiations. They called it a public relations stunt
on the part of the government aimed at dividing workers and turning the
public against them.
 They
refuted the Legault government's claim that its offer is an eight per
cent wage increase over three years. In fact, the government is
offering five per cent over three years and an additional three per
cent in the form of a one-time lump sum which does not raise wages and
does not contribute to pensions -- not a wage increase at all.
They decried the government's 'divide and conquer' tactic of different
offers for different sections of the workforce. Public sector workers
are one whole, one collective that works together every day to provide
services to the population and every one of them is important, they
said.
They
reiterated that the crisis of recruitment and retention in the public
service is
serious and can only be solved by increasing the wages and improving
the working conditions of everyone. With such insufficient offers it is
not possible to rebuild the public services that have been devastated
by more than thirty years of cuts and privatization and therefore it is
not possible to prepare for the next crisis, they pointed out. Finally,
they said that if the government really wants a quick resolution, as it
says it does, it must send its negotiators in with a mandate to
actually negotiate, so that there can be serious discussions between
the unions and government that address the just demands of public
sector workers.
Premier Legault and the Treasury Board President also held a press
conference within hours of the meeting with the union leaders. It
emerges clearly that the Premier was well aware that the unions would
reject his offer and that his goal was to try to turn the public
against public sector workers. Legault repeated his tired neo-liberal
mantra,
saying that the pandemic has created a very difficult budgetary
situation for Quebec, making a return to balanced budgets in the near
future very difficult. As "the manager of taxpayers' money" it would be
unthinkable for him to offer more because it would require raising
taxes, which he refuses to do, he said.
While the people of Quebec recognize the immense value to the
economy that public sector workers create, the Legault government
refuses to recognize the claims of public sector workers on the value
they create. The government has no intention of taking responsibility
for their well-being or that of the public service sector or even
holding a
public discussion on how to fund public services. Fast talk about
upholding the interests of so-called taxpayers will not disguise his
government's attacks on those who deliver the public services when it
puts those services and those who deliver them at risk.
 With
its "offer," the government is also denying the reality of the deep
crisis in public services, including the problem of attracting and
retaining labour, the acute labour shortage that is largely caused by
the government's refusal to provide wages and working conditions that
workers find acceptable. The exodus of public service workers,
whether through career change, early retirement, or migration to
private labour agencies, has become a critical issue affecting workers,
services and the public. Hospital beds are being closed at a time when
they are badly needed because of the lack of staff which is largely due
to this exodus. The government is deliberately catering to the private
agencies which has exacerbated the crisis caused by the anti-social
offensive. It is nothing short of criminal, and it is precisely this
problem that public sector employees are trying to address with their
demands for better wages and working conditions.
The premier's attempts to turn the public against the public sector
employees is pathetic. He said that he has been very patient with
public sector workers up until now but that his patience is wearing
thin; that he expects a resolution to negotiations within the next few
weeks. Negotiations should be "put behind us," he said, which is utter
mischief-making given that the government refuses to negotiate in good
faith. His words are seen as a threat of further attacks including
legislation to decree wages and working conditions for public sector
employees. This would be in addition to the ministerial orders that
already exist in the health and social services sector which allow
collective
agreements in the sector to be declared null and void and working
conditions to be changed unilaterally.
It will not be long before what Legault is doing with "people's
taxes," paying private agencies through lucrative contracts to provide
labour for the jobs in the public sector, will come to light.
This article was published in
May 12, 2021 - No. 43
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08431.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
