Three-day strike at SÉPAQ: fishing activities disrupted

Starting Thursday, approximately 650 union members of the Société des établissements de plein air dans les réserve fauniques will walk out, due to the lack of sufficient progress at the bargaining table. Fishing activities will therefore be disrupted.

The strike is scheduled to last three days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, in 13 wildlife reserves. SÉPAQ national parks and tourist establishments are not affected.

The three-day walkout affects 650 of the 2,500 members of the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ)—a large union independent of the centralized unions—who work at SÉPAQ.

According to the SFPQ, the collective agreement for some 2,500 SÉPAQ workers expired over a year ago, on Dec. 31, 2023.

SÉPAQ management requested conciliation earlier this week in the hopes of facilitating discussions between the parties.

Noting in a news release on Wednesday that “88.8 per cent of workers voted in favor of using heavy-duty pressure tactics, which could lead to an unlimited general strike at the appropriate time.”

SÉPAQ’s media relations manager, Simon Boivin, deplores the situation.

“On Tuesday, we had to contact reservation holders to cancel the affected stays and offer people either to reschedule their stays, or to receive a credit or refund. This situation is impacting several hundred stays.”

SFPQ President Christian Daigle stated that “if the Legault government wants to avoid an escalation of pressure tactics and further harm outdoor activities in Quebec, salary offers must be quickly improved” for his members.

“The negotiation sessions of the last few days have not resulted in sufficient improvements to the employer’s offers to avoid these first days of strike action,” he added in the news release.

“This first walkout will have a major impact on fishing activities just beginning in the wildlife reserves. With wages between $16 and $17 an hour, our members are ready to go to any lengths to improve their situation,” he said.

Among the points of contention are salary increases and the flexibility requested by the employer. Many of these workers are seasonal employees.

—With files from The Canadian Press, first published in French and translated by CityNews