Negotiations: legitimate demands for the survival of public services
Last May, when the Common Front revealed its salary demands, several commentators expressed cries of indignation, even labelling the union leaders as Martians because they didn’t seem to realize that there is an economic crisis.
Premier Jean Charest got involved at the end of October announcing that the Quebec deficit was worse than expected. He then declared that everyone had to make an effort and that public expenses would inevitably have to be reduced in order to wipe out the deficit. He was setting the table for the negotiations with the Common Front.
This is not the first time the government has had such an attitude towards negotiations with its employees. Remember that in December 2005, during a period of economic growth, the Charest government passed a decree to prematurely end the negotiations and impose a collective agreement for six years, with a salary freeze for the first two years and a 2% increase per year for the following four years.
It is this type of government attitude that has caused the Quebec public sector to lose ground. A study carried out by the Institut de la statistique du Québec published in 2008 showed that public sector employees are, on the average, 7.7% behind the salaries of all Quebec employees and 5.2% behind those in the private sector.
Working conditions have a direct impact on work force attraction and retention; the healthcare sector is a particularly eloquent example. Therefore, it is the government who needs to make an effort by admitting that the survival of public services goes through the improvement of the salary and working conditions of the government employees.
On May 13th, Jean-Robert Sansfaçon, editorialist at the Devoir, wrote that: « Pour la première fois depuis longtemps les centrales syndicales feront front commun lors de la prochaine ronde de négociations dans le secteur public et parapublic. Compte tenu des disparités qui se creusent entre les différentes catégories d’employés… (et) du jeu habituel de la négociation, on ne peut pas prétendre que les demandes initiales présentées par le Front commun sont extravagantes : 11,5 % sur trois ans, voilà qui laisse place à la négociation d’une entente respectueuse de la capacité de payer des Québécois, selon l’expression consacrée. Une chose est certaine : Québec serait très mal venu de geler les salaires de ses employés malgré la situation économique difficile ».("For the first time in a long time the union confederations will form a common front for the next round of negotiations in the public and parapublic sectors. Considering the disparities that exist between different job categories…(and) the normal game of negotiations, we cannot pretend that the initial demands presented by the Common Front are extravagant: 11.5% over three years, this leaves room for the negotiation of an agreement that respects the capacity for paying Quebecers. One thing is sure: Quebec would be ill-timed to freeze its employees’ salaries in spite of the difficult economic situation.") (our translation)
No, we are not Martians! We represent employees who insure the offer of quality public services to the public and who have already done more than their share to avoid straining the Quebec budget. The monies devoted to the improvement of their working conditions constitute an investment in the survival of public services.
In Solidarity,