Quebec plans to reform the public sector negotiation system

Photo: Jacques Boissinot La Presse canadienne «J’ai pu constater que les règles actuelles ne répondent plus du tout aux réalités d’aujourd’hui et qu’elles s’avèrent beaucoup trop lourdes», a soutenu la présidente du Conseil du trésor, Sonia LeBel.

Quebec is preparing to thoroughly review the public sector negotiation system, which dates from “another era,” to adapt, among other things, to the “transformation of the health network.” The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, will soon table a bill to this effect.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

The elected member of the Coalition avenir Québec used a ministerial statement on Wednesday—a tool rarely used under her government—to announce from the Salon rouge that she was preparing to revise the law that has governed the negotiation of collective agreements for government employees for 40 years. This unexpected statement suggests a major reform exercise.

“As President of the Treasury Board, I had the privilege of leading two rounds of negotiations. The current context, it must be said, is very different from that of the past. I was able to see that the current rules no longer respond at all to today’s realities and that they are much too cumbersome,” Minister LeBel maintained a few minutes before question period on Wednesday.

In her eyes, the “traditional” framework for negotiations, “focused mainly on the issue of salaries, no longer reflects today’s reality at all.” Since 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada has also “redefined the notion of freedom of association” as enshrined in black and white in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, she recalled.

“The Act [respecting the collective bargaining system in the public and parapublic sectors], introduced several decades ago, reflects economic, social and organizational dynamics from another era,” said Ms. LeBel.

Adapting “to the transformation of the health network”

Without revealing what will be included in her reform, the CAQ representative committed on Wednesday to “simplifying the negotiation structure” in force, to undertaking a discussion on the organization of work and to “adapting […] the system to the transformation of the health network.”

Read also

• Treasury Board announces freeze on external recruitment within the public service
• Fourth week of strike in family daycare services

On this Lastly, the government of François Legault intends to give Santé Québec “more effective tools” to manage the health system.

“The current negotiation system is not adapted to the reality of a single employer in the network. To this end, one of the keys seems to us to avoid changes that would cause raiding or major changes in accreditations,” said Minister LeBel.

The elected official says she has “the courage to proceed with this major reform” by tabling a bill in the House in the coming months.

Other details will follow.