CSQ president says Quebec doesn’t need to cut spring break, extend semester

“After the public sector negotiations, 2024 will be a year of action and transformation,” says Éric Gingras, President of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), at a press conference in Montreal on Monday. With the post-strike catch-up plan to be unveiled on Tuesday, Gingras believes it’s possible to “make adjustments” without cutting spring break or extending classes into June.

“No one was happy to lose days in the strike in fall or beginning of winter, no one was happy with that,” said Gingras.

This comes as the Common front alliance of Quebec unions – representing 420,000 public sector workers – which the CSQ is part of – said on Sunday it would take a new tentative contract agreement to its members for approval during assemblies to be held between mid-January and mid-February. 

The union leaders confirmed the deal reached Dec. 28 includes salary hikes of 17.4 per cent over five years, as well as improvements to group insurance, vacation and retirement programs.

“It’s something huge compared to what happens in the last 20, 30, 40 years. Usually, they start with a number, they give us a couple of percentage more, and that’s it. Now we doubled it,” said Gingras.

Moshe Lander, economics professor at Concordia University says the salary increase is a bit at the higher end of inflation but roughly in line with what the Bank of Canada is looking for.

If prices are rising two and half to three per cent per year then is seems reasonable that you should ask for a raise for about two and a half to three per cent per year, so that’s essentially what they’ve gotten. So that’s perfectly fine. Their purchasing power is not being eroded but they’re not gaining in purchasing power either,” said Gingras.

The news marks another step towards resolving the labour dispute between Quebec and the union alliance known as the Common front, which is made up of four unions representing  hundreds of thousands of workers in sectors like education and health care.

“It’s an important moment for a major central labour body like ours. A congress is an opportunity to review our orientations, to put ourselves in tune with our members and to calibrate our objectives. In particular, this convention will be an opportunity to assert the CSQ’s leadership in education – from early childhood to higher education. In 2024, we want more benevolence, and more audacity too. Life is changing, society is transforming… But in Quebec, we’re still talking about structures and administration, not long-term vision, not projects.”

He also hopes that the Ministry of Education will leave it up to the schools to decide and show “flexibility” since the situation could be different in Gaspésie, Saguenay and on Montreal’s South Shore.

“That’s why we’re asking [the Quebec government] to be flexible in order for the people in the classroom, the people in the school to take decision what has to be done,” said Gingras.

The Common front, which is the largest labour group negotiating with the province, has launched 11 days of strikes since November to pressure the government to reach a deal.

Quebec has also previously reached a deal in principle with a teachers union that has about 66,000 members, but is still negotiating with a major health-care worker union with 80,000 members.

The CSQ represents more than 225,000 members, including some 125,000 people that work in education. The CSQ has 11 federations with some 240 affiliated unions, as well as AREQ, the association representing CSQ retirees. The CSQ is also present in the health and social services, early childhood education, municipal, leisure, culture, community and communications sectors.

-With files from The Canadian Press