Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press The co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, on the sidelines of a national debate for the race to succeed Manon Massé, in Trois-Rivières, Sunday
Québec solidaire (QS) and the Parti Québécois (PQ) reacted Sunday to the new offer of the Legault government for public sector workers.
Quebec's new offer is a 10.3% salary increase over five years, in addition to a lump sum of $1,000 in the first year. Added to this is a sum equivalent to 3% reserved for “government priorities”, meaning the government presents its offer as being worth 14.8% over five years.
The previous offer was a 9% pay increase over five years, plus a lump sum of $1,000 in the first year and 2.5% for “government priorities”, an offer presented as a increase of 13% over five years.
The unions came out of their wits following the submission of the new offer from Quebec, but they were not the only ones.
QS co-spokesperson, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, believes that the Legault government is impoverishing state employees in the public sector.
Passing through Trois-Rivières for a debate as part of the race for the positions of co-spokesperson and president of QS, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois vigorously criticized the offer submitted Sunday morning by the president of the Council of treasure, Sonia LeBel.
“This is unacceptable. This is unacceptable. It’s a frontal attack on the middle class, he said. The nurses, the teachers, the janitors, the people who work in our public institutions, these are the people, the middle class. »
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois stressed that the supply was below the rate of inflation and that this risks impoverishing “the women and men who work hard in our public services.”
When asked what he thought would be an acceptable offer, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois replied that “the bare minimum” would be not to impoverish workers.
“There is a shortage of personnel in our public services. If we pay them poorly, they will continue to leave. Services to the population will decline in quality,” he said, adding that he understood the workers to go on strike.
The common front, made up of the CSN, the CSQ, the FTQ and the APTS, which together represent 420,000 members, announced a first day of strike on November 6.
The Federation Interprofessional Health Association (FIQ), which represents 80,000 nurses and other health professionals, for its part announced the first days of strike on November 8 and 9.
The 65,000 teachers of the Federation independent education authority (FAE) have also adopted a strike mandate, but we do not know exactly when it will be exercised.
On the sidelines of the PQ National Council in Saint-Hyacinthe, the PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon did not want to elaborate on the issue, indicating that he preferred to let the workers speak.
“To the ear it does not sound like an offer, a bonus, which will go down in history. But I don’t think it’s up to me, it’s really up to the workers to express themselves first. I do not want to replace the workers, and after that we will be happy to comment,” he said.