Quebec unions to escalate labour action if talks stall
Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers took to the streets of Quebec in late October to protest lagging contract talks with the provincial government.
The labour action was organized by the Common Front, a coalition of several public sector unions. The unions collaborated to organize rotating strikes across the province, with further labour action scheduled if negotiations fail to move forward.
Public sector workers in the province have been without a contract since April 1.
The Secrétariat Intersyndical des Services Publics (SISP), Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) and Fédération des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) represent more than 400,000 public sector employees.
The unions launched a week’s worth of one-day rotating strikes across the province on Oct. 26. Essential services were
maintained during the labour action, and the second round of labour action is scheduled to begin Nov. 9.
A major stumbling block for the parties is the issue of wage increases. At press time, the provincial government announced its intention to modify its proposal.
Previously, the government’s offer included a two-year wage freeze followed by annual increases of one per cent for the following three years.
The Common Front is calling for wage increases of 13.5 per cent over three years. The coalition vowed that pressure on the government will increase if talks continue to stall, culminating with three days of walkouts on Dec. 1, 2 and 3.
"Many protests have been staged," said Maxime Clement, press officer for SISP. "Petitions, regional demonstrations, symbolic actions — even a demonstration gathering a massive crowd of 150,000 people in the streets of Montreal on Oct. 3.
"Confronted with the inflexibility of this government, a strike remains the last thing at our disposal to avoid the disastrous consequences that these offers would have on our public service."
Clement said the Common Front is working to take advantage of the current round of bargaining to put an end to the pay disparity between public and private employees, as well as protect workers’ pension and retirement benefits from proposed cutbacks.
"The Common Front is ready to negotiate, but the government needs to address these issues," Clement said.
"A salary freeze for the next two years is just unacceptable for the public sector workers."
The unions are calling on the province to invest a portion of its surplus in public services to bridge the gap between the parties’ current proposals.
The government, however, announced the surplus would be invested in its Fonds des Générations for the purpose of paying off the province’s public debt.
And when Treasury Board president Martin Coiteux announced the government would modify its proposals following the rotating strikes, he was clear any compromises would still allow the government to stay on track for its goal of a balanced budget in 2016.
Coiteux said the government will continue to challenge unions to minimize the impact of strikes on the lives of citizens, whom he described as being held hostage by the walkouts.
"Union members have the right to express their discontent as long as the health and safety of the population is not infringed upon," Coiteux said in a statement. "The government believes it is possible to make progress within these parameters."
Case law continues to develop
Michael Sherrard, a lawyer at Sherrard Kuzz in Toronto, said the ongoing negotiations and labour action are increasingly significant as case law continues to develop with respect to the role the right to strike plays in collective bargaining.
"The right to walk off the job or the right to strike is an intrinsically important part of collective bargaining," he said.
"Inherently, our system was based upon the parties’ ability to challenge each other lawfully in order to compromise in their respective positions."
When faced with escalating labour action, governments must decide whether or not they should legislate employees back to work, Sherrard said.
"If I’m reading the Quebec situation correctly, it’s highly likely the government will be seriously looking at legislating workers back to work as a reaction to the unions escalating their right-to-strike activities."
The stakes are heightened, he said, because of the number of employees being affected by negotiations.
"Most parties, whether you’re on the employer side or the trade union side, as they go to bargaining, each side is trying to find ways to help maximize achieving an agreement on their proposals," Sherrard said. "So people are looking for leverage. If it’s a single union versus multiple unions or if it’s 10 people versus 400,000 people, it makes a big difference… it is significant."
While Sherrard believes legislating employees back to work is a very real option for the provincial government, he said a net zero outcome could be a viable alternative for the parties.
A net zero agreement would prevent wage freezes by asking the unions to offset any pay increases elsewhere in the agreement, he said.
"Everyone is being cautious with respect to looking at alternatives to achieve compromise before they simply legislate back."
Sherrard mentioned Saskatchewan’s essential services laws, which were struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada.
"People are actually looking, fundamentally, for ways to achieve compromise and then absent any ability to do that, legislating back."
