The common front of Quebec public sector union’s April 26 show of force was only a hint of things to come, CUPE leaders say.
The unions handed out a million leaflets in actions across Quebec. Lunch hour information pickets happened in hundreds of workplaces, including schools, colleges, hospitals, care facilities and government offices.
Noisy car caravans highlighted the impatience of public sector workers to see a settlement after two years without a contract.
With salaries on average 12 per cent less than other Quebec workers, with more than half working part time, casual or on call jobs, with privatization and contracting out looming, the 200,000 members of the CSN-FTQ common front figure they’re about due for some positive change.
Said FTQ vice president Raymond Forget, “It’s not by pitting one group of workers against another or by trotting out the same pat speech about budget constraints that the government is going to advance negotiations.
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