A three-day strike is underway across Quebec where hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are off the job and most schools are closed Tuesday.
The Front Commun, which includes members of four major public sector unions representing a “common front” of some 420,000 workers, will be on the picket line through Thursday.
The group includes the majority of elementary and high school teachers as well as school support staff. It also includes health-care workers like orderlies and technicians.
Andrea Di Tomaso, a representative for school support staff with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, said “this is not where we wanted to end up.” Educational support staff are among the lowest paid public sector workers and retention is a challenge, she added.
“What we need is the right people in the right jobs and the only way to do that is to provide good working conditions and a decent salary,” Di Tomaso said from the picket line.
The week of different provincewide strikes comes as a deal remains off the table. The Quebec government’s latest offer included a 10.3 per cent salary increase over five years and a one-time payment of $1,000 to each worker.
Quebec Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel said the offer was a serious one while unions roundly rejected the proposal. On Monday, it was announced a conciliator will be brought in to advance the negotiations.
Speaking in Quebec City on Tuesday, Lebel suggested that the government was open to modifying its offer but said a main sticking point is the “organization of work.” The province, she said, wants to pay workers more for accepting less desirable shifts, such as on nights and weekends.
The government’s goal, she said, “is for the day after the signing of the agreement, to see an impact not only in the daily lives of our employees, but also to have improved services for citizens.”
Flanked by the ministers of education and health, LeBel said the unions are focusing on the salaries to make a case for a strike. “But when we talk to nurses, when we talk to teachers, they’re talking about their workload.”
However, she said the government won’t be able to, in the short term, meet a union demand to reduce the ratio of students to teachers in the province’s schools because of labour shortages.
The three-day walkout starting Tuesday is the first in a series of strikes this week.
The Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, which represents 80,000 nurses, licensed practical nurses, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists, is negotiating separately. The walkout is set for Thursday and Friday.
It doesn’t end there. If a deal isn’t reached soon, some schools will be closed indefinitely.
The Fédération Autonome de l’Enseignement, which is also negotiating separately, represents nearly 65,000 teachers in elementary and high schools. It will launch its own unlimited general strike Thursday.
For parents with young kids, some say they are relying on one another for child care so they can still work while schools are shut.
“The days I work from home, I will keep my child with me,” said Gabrielle Koch. “The days I have to go, he will be with his friends for playdates.”
— with files from Global’s Amanda Jelowicki, Brayden Jagger Haines and The Canadian Press