SAQ workers launch surprise strike on Friday

SAQ workers walked off the job Friday afternoon in a surprise strike, amid frustrations at the bargaining table for a new collective agreement.

In a Facebook post, the CSN union said office and store employees left their posts at 2:30 p.m.

As was the case previously, some branches will remain open and operated by management and customers can check on the website before heading to the store.

Employees are expected to return to work on Saturday.

“Reminder to the employer: we have several days of strike left in our pockets. It is up to them whether they are necessary,” the post reads.

The union is entitled to 15 strike days. Two days were used in April, and another was used on Thursday.

Around 5,000 employees were on strike Thursday, after their union denounced their employer’s salary proposal in the ongoing negotiations.

According to the union, the “normative” part of the negotiations was settled last week. However, the union says it feels “cheated” by the salary offers and the financial framework that were submitted last Wednesday by the employer.

In their view, the financial framework would force employees to accept cuts in overtime pay and a reduction in the employer’s contribution to health insurance, among other things.

Currently, employees must wait seven years to be eligible for insurance coverage and they want to reduce this period to five years and are also demanding dental care coverage.

Their employer is offering a 16.5 per cent pay increase over six years but the union argues that this offer is lower than the 17.4 per cent increase over five years that was given to public sector workers.

After reading the proposal last Friday, the union’s executive committee called on members to be ready for the upcoming stages of the mobilization.

On Thursday, union representatives held a press conference at the Jean-Talon market SAQ branch.

The collective agreement for SAQ employees expired on March 31, 2023.