MONTREAL -Thousands of public sector workers took to the streets of Montreal this Saturday to protest against ongoing contract negotiations with the government.
The protest kicked off at noon in Mount Royal park then headed down to Sainte-Catherine Street and McGill Avenue.
“Today is an important day,” said Gislaine Raymond, a retired teacher. “Just to make our point and saying that health and education and people that are working in ministry giving services to the population are really important.”
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“You can’t afford to get sick in Quebec because you’re not gonna have the proper healthcare,” said protest participant Michael Schafter .
“I think every body deserves an honest wage.”
The protest was organized by the Front Commun, which regroups several civil servant unions and represents about 400,000 public sector workers.
“Our members are out of breath.” said Daniel Boyer, president of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) in a statement. “But we are more determined than ever to save public services and stop their increasingly unbearable working conditions.”
The government’s offer to freeze wages until 2016 and a one per cent yearly increase until 2018 doesn’t sit well with workers.
It’s really difficult to negotiate in that frame of negotiation,” said Boyer. “So we ask for a better proposition from the government if you want to respect those employees.”
Public sector workers are asking for a 13.5 per cent salary hike over three years.
The government however is not budging, salary negotiations have been ongoing since March, 2015.
We will go on strike,” says Martine Robert who’s responsible for negotiating on behalf of the Alliance du Personnel Professionel et Technique de la Sante et des Services Sociaux (APTS). “But that’s not what we want, we want to have a real contract and let’s hope that they will hear the message today.”
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