The union representing support staff with the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, UQAC, signed its new collective agreement last June 11. CUPE 1574 is satisfied with the agreement, which lays solid groundwork for the next negotiations in 2027.

“Right from when we started in March 2024, we made it clear to the employer that we would not agree to losing ground on wages. They respected our position, and negotiations went quite well. An agreement on non-monetary issues was reached quickly. The wage issues were resolved shortly thereafter.  We were proud to present this agreement to our members,” said Claudine Simard, president of CUPE 1574.

The gains included improvements to the development program, an increase in the number of social leave days, the inclusion of teleworking in the collective agreement and more hours of leave to tend to union business. The union accreditations within the local were amalgamated with the research support accreditation, which also provides an opportunity to create more positions and recognize the seniority of the new members.

Annual wage hikes in the agreement will vary between 2 and 3% or be pegged to the government’s wage policy, whichever is higher.