Common front workers offered salary increases of 17.4% over 5 years, unions say
Posted January 3, 2024 1:44 pm.
Last Updated January 3, 2024 1:47 pm.
The Quebec government has presented workers with the four major common front unions with salary increases of 17.4 per cent over five years, the unions revealed Wednesday.
Health-care workers, teachers and other public-sector employees with the CSN, CSQ, APTS and FTQ ended their strike last week after the parties reached an agreement in principle.
The unions say the tentative deal includes a purchasing power protection clause for each of the last three years of the collective agreement.
Besides the five-year duration, the details of the tentative deal reached with the Quebec government had previously not been disclosed.
The CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS made the information public Wednesday, after there were reports of a leak on a union’s website Monday.
“The Common Front’s desire has always been to present to its members first the content of the proposed agreement that came at the negotiating table,” the union group said in a statement. “However, in the context in which information is circulating, we would like to present to you the broad outlines of the agreement in principle.”
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In a news release, the common front unions say they negotiated “significant gains” in group insurance and vacations, parental rights, and retaining specialized workers.
“Regarding the pension system, some improvements have been obtained and major setbacks have been avoided. All of this adds up to several improvements obtained in sectoral agreements,” the release reads.
Intermediate bodies affiliated with the common front unions began meeting Wednesday to study the proposed agreement in principle. Assemblies of workers — who will ultimately vote — should begin in mid-January.
The collective agreements expired March 31, 2023.
The common front represents 420,000 public-sector workers in Quebec.
