Quebec government engineers threaten to resume strike this winter

After walking out for a few days in November and then returning to work, engineers working for the Quebec government are threatening to resort to pressure tactics again this winter.

There are approximately 2,000 engineers that work in the ministries of Transport, the Environment, Natural Resources, Municipal Affairs and Agriculture.

BACKGROUND: Quebec government engineers strike near La Fontaine Tunnel bridge

Members of the Professional Association of Government Engineers of Quebec (APIGQ) launched an indefinite strike on Nov. 14.

Then they returned to work after five days, “as a strategy,” said the president of the engineers’ union, Marc-André Martin, in an interview on Tuesday.

“But the government has not moved” since then, he said.

The APIGQ is now threatening to resort to pressure tactics again. “Certainly this winter. We will do it during construction,” warned Martin. 

It could take the form of refusing to work overtime or some other type of strike. Martin says he wants to keep the element of surprise when the time comes.

Negotiations to renew the collective agreement have not been broken off, however. “Discussions are continuing at the table,” says the Treasury Board.

But Martin maintains that “we are waiting for a phone call from both sides.”

The dispute concerns remuneration, the use of subcontracting to the private sector, the flexibility expected of engineers and their professional autonomy.

APIGQ is demanding that its members do more engineering tasks, be able to do more field work, and less paperwork and invoice approval. 

Asked to comment, the Treasury Board recalled that it had succeeded in renewing the collective agreements that concern 98 per cent of employees in the public and parapublic sectors.

To the APIGQ, which complains that it has still not been offered salary increases of 17.4 per cent over five years, as all government employees have obtained, the office of Minister Sonia LeBel responded: “We said it during negotiations with the other unions: our salary offer could be improved based on the compensation obtained in terms of flexibility in the organization of work.”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews