SAQ employees hold another day of strike action Monday

Some 5,000 union members at the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) will not be at work on Monday, as their union accuses the employer of ignoring its demands at the negotiating table.

The SAQ Store and Office Employees Union has confirmed that its members will hold their fifth day of strike action on Monday since negotiations began, which have been ongoing for about 21 months.

It is not yet known which branches will be closed and which will remain open. During previous strikes, managers had maintained operations at some points of sale, but not all.

According to the union, since October, the employer has been asking workers to withdraw their demands and accept the proposals on the table, which it describes as “setbacks.” The union believes that the talks are at an “impasse.”

“We want to show the employer and the public how determined we are to have better working conditions,” said Caroline Senneville, the president of the CSN.

While the normative clauses have now been settled, the salary issue is still in dispute, according to the union, as are access to more permanent full-time positions and group insurance coverage. As of now, 70 per cent of employees are considered “precarious.”

According to Senneville, this means that employees do not have fixed schedules, which leads to an uncertainty regarding income. It takes 12 years for a person to become a permanent employee of the SAQ.

“It puts [employees] in a lot of anxiety and being precarious, never knowing if you’ll have enough money to pay the rent at the end of the month,” Senneville stated.

The union said the SAQ offered its members a 16.5 per cent pay increase over six years, to which it responded with a counter-offer of 20 per cent over five year.

Senneville believes that the constant refusal of the union’s demands is not “a way to negotiate in good faith.”

“Both parties need to listen and try to find solutions,” she said. “The union and the representatives rather be at the negotiating table than on the picket line. But then again it takes two to tango it doesn’t depend only on us.”

The SAQ Store and Office Employees Union is affiliated with the Fédération des employées et employés de services publics, which is affiliated with the CSN. Its members’ collective agreement expired on March 31, 2023.

Union members walked out for two days in April and on Oct. 17. The next day, they called a “surprise strike” in the middle of the afternoon. The initial mandate given by the members to their union provided for up to 15 days of strike action.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews.