The 74 blue-collar and white-collar employees of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac were shocked to read the mayor’s comments reported in the May 21st, 2024 edition of the newspaper l’Éveil. According to him, the parties are not very far from reaching an agreement to renew the collective agreements. Following the talks on May 10, the union negotiating committees did not have quite the same take on the situation.
“If the mayor is serious about what he is saying, he should pass on the information he knows directly to the mediator, since he seems to be the only one who thinks we are close to an agreement,” said Johanne Parent, president of CUPE 2804.
“We would like to correct certain statements that do not reflect the reality of the current negotiations. If it is true that the employer has proceeded to hire ten new employees in 2021, we wonder why its representatives are so reluctant to make them official in the collective agreement by including them in the employment floor,” added Marc-Antoine Lucas, president of CUPE 1962.
The mayor claims that the waiting period for sick leave is very costly. However, it was demonstrated at the negotiating table that this represents only 0.3% of the city’s wage bill. The unions offered to reduce their wage demands by 1% in order to maintain the status quo, but were categorically refused by the employer.
The representatives of the two locals acknowledge that the city has paid 1.5% in the form of a lump sum for the years 2020 to 2022, and that this 4.5% is included in the calculation of salary demands. They are in fact asking for parity with the salary increases granted in other neighbouring towns or municipalities. For information, the latter have obtained average salary increases of between 3.5% and 4.8% per year. The union’s most recent demands range from a minimum of 3.07% to a maximum of 3.36% based on the CPI, which is in line with the public’s ability to pay. The employer’s offer, which is described as final, is a minimum of 2.19% and a maximum of 2.75% on average each year.