Unionized workers demanding salary increase protest outside Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital

Unionized workers from four major unions in Quebec protested outside a Montreal hospital Tuesday afternoon to show their support for the health workers there.

Members of Front Commun – with which the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) and Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) are affiliated – protested in front of Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital.

The unions want the Quebec government to submit new offers for their workers, including health professionals, saying the key point is salary.

“We are here because we represent the Front Commun in Quebec and we’re here to show to the government that those people are ready to fight,” said FTQ president Magali Picard. “It’s very, very embarrassing that the government offered those inflation rates to our people. We’re talking about nine per cent over the next five years, which is completely ridiculous.

“We’re looking at what’s going on everywhere and we need to have the employer ready to propose something that will respect the workers.”

Picard says the unions represent about 400,000 workers in Quebec who are looking for better working conditions.

“The average of those people, the salary average right now, it’s $44,000,” she said. “People don’t know that. People think that the public servants have got big salaries, big conditions. It was true maybe 20 years ago, but not today.

“Now we need to catch up. We need some reasonable raises. This is not what we are seeing at the table. We’re talking now about 1.8 per cent a year, which is shameful. And our people won’t accept it. The message is clear. We’re ready to fight.”

Picard says health workers specifically were praised during the COVID-19 pandemic, and deserve some recognition.

“Those people really kept the province in their hands the last three years,” she said. “And we were hoping that the employer would come to the table with a serious offer. It didn’t happen. So now we’re at this point where we’re telling the government, you better be ready because those people are ready.”

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Front Commun says a large demonstration is scheduled for Sept. 23 in Montreal.

“We want everybody to be there to support the public workers,” said Picard. “They need you because they want to give you the best service.”

Disrupting rush-hour traffic

Meanwhile another health union was planning to “disrupt traffic” Wednesday in downtown Montreal during rush hour.

Approximately 500 nurses, nursing assistants and other health-care professionals with the FIQ (Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec) were to take part in the demonstration.

Their aim was to increase pressure in negotiations for the renewal of collective agreements, which expired March 31.

Members of the FIQ, which represents 80,000 nurses, had until then used lighter pressure tactics.

On Tuesday, for example, nurses wore a black T-shirt as a “uniform top” with the FIQ negotiation slogan: “there are limits.”

Wednesday, they are planning to meet at 3:15 p.m. at the Montmorency metro in Laval, before heading to Montreal.

Mediation reports are piling up in the public sector. They suggest how challenging it will be to reach an agreement between the Quebec government and the various unions concerned.

Mediation reports are a necessary step before unions obtain the right to strike.

—With files from La Presse Canadienne