First One-Day Strike in Quebec Public Sector

Exposing a Government at Odds with Needs of a Modern Quebec

Îles de la Madeleine, November 6, 2023 one-day strike

Quebec's 420,000 public sector workers, members of the Common Front, militantly joined a one-day strike on Monday, November 6, against the government refusal to uphold the right of Quebeckers to public services which includes providing public sector workers with the working conditions and wages they are trying to negotiate against a government which is privatizing and dictating. From one end of Quebec to the other in large cities, towns and rural areas, picket lines went up and workers voiced their rejection of the government's intransigent position which harms the public sector. The President of the Quebec Treasury Board Sonia Lebel, who is also the Minister responsible for Government Administration, claimed that her government is delaying the resolution of the conflict with public sector workers out of social conscience.

On October 29, Minister LeBel tabled what she called a "new offer," increasing the previous wage offer from 9 per cent to 10.3 per cent over five years. The unions rejected it as an insult and maintained their call to strike, because they said, among other reasons, the "new offer" keeps wage increases below the expected rate of inflation. This would mean that public sector workers would continue to be impoverished, while it was already established that there are several years of catching up to do on the wage front. The Common Front unions are asking for wage increases of around 20 per cent over three years.

Now Minister LeBel says that, since she has tabled a "new offer," it's up to the unions to table a counter-offer if they're not satisfied! She also says that it's not just a matter of wages and working conditions, "we must also improve the organization of work in our networks." This refers to getting the unions to agree to the imposition of "flexible" work schedules which makes the working conditions untenable and the personal lives of public sector workers in health care and education sectors also unsustainable.

By waging one-day strikes, the Common Front is giving the government a chance to return to the negotiating table and negotiate in good faith. Workers across Quebec, including what is called "the public," are categorically opposed to all attempts to increase ministerial powers so that governments can act with impunity while the workforce is considered disposable. There are at least 600,000 fully committed workers in these sectors who are very vocal about what is really going on, and these 600,000 people have hundreds of thousands of family members who know what is really going on and the entire society knows the state of health care services and of the schools, CEGEPs and social services. Every day news stories reveal the harm caused by the self-serving laws which serve narrow private interests. They show the harm caused to society when the dictum is that the pursuit of private profit is the driving force behind the development of social programs, not the well-being of the people.

The Legault government claims that in the public sector bargaining equation it is defending public services and the well-being of the public, while public sector workers are only defending their own wages and working conditions. In response to the first one-day strike held by the Common Front, Education Minister Bernard Drainville posted on X "a thought for the parents and students whose schedules will be turned upside down. We all hope that an agreement can be reached quickly." This is typical of government attempts to turn the public against their co-workers in the fields of health care and education. Their hope that the inconveniences the entire society lives when the services are not available will win the day, not their sympathy for the workers and their demands. Typically, government ministers and spokespersons and media at their disposal just defame and malign the working people and refuse to discuss their working conditions, let alone elaborate the solutions they are proposing to improve the systems of health care and education and social services. The reason is of course obvious, which is that the government has no intention of having public services but, on the contrary, is using the public treasury to provide those who provide private services with guaranteed contracts and profits.

The workers when on strike and not on strike are the frontline defenders of the interests of the Quebec people. All out to uphold their just cause!

This article was published in

Number 59 - November 8, 2023

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10591.HTM

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