Common front union leaders upset province not negotiating over the weekend

Public sector union leaders representing thecommon front, orFront communin French, are decrying the absence of the provincial government at the negotiating table over the weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of public sector health and social serviceworkers are currently on the third day of a week-long strike pushing the government for better pay and working conditions.

"The health-care system is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and the government doesn't feel the urgency to negotiate over the weekends," said Sylvie Nelson, the president of theSyndicat qubcois des employes et employs de service,during a news conference Sunday morning.

Maxime Ste-Marie, the president of theConseil provincial des affaires sociales,said the unions will be available 24/7 over the next week to continue negotiations, and theyare hoping to reach an agreement byDec. 19.

If they aren't able to strike a deal,Ste-Marie says they'll have to consider other ways to make themselves heard. Among those options isa general unlimited strike after the holidays.

Workers in the health-care and social services sectors are asking for among other things more time off and higher compensation rates for overtime. For the last two years, health-care workers were paid double-time for overtime work as a temporary measure to mitigate staffing shortages during the pandemic.

According to Nelson,the measure, which ended on Nov. 4, helped with retention and make health-care positions more attractive to prospective workers.

"The system is still in crisis," said Nelson.

Rjean Leclerc, president of theFdration de la sant et des services sociaux, which is affiliated with the Confdration des Syndicats Nationaux(CSN), one of the unions that makes up the common front, says Quebec PremierFranois Legault'srepeated call for more "flexibility" really means cedingwhat he calls "more control" to the government.

He says health and social service sector workers have been steadily undermined for years, with pressure building over time.

"If we ask them for more flexibility, the elastic will snap," saidLeclerc.

In downtown Montreal, Simon Dolbec, a cook at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universit de Montral (CHUM) for the past 17 years, stood alongside his colleagues who demonstrated in the rain, waving the green and white flags of the common front.

Dolbec says the workers won't hold back until they get what they consider a fair deal.

"It's very important for myself, for our children, that we are out in the street to ensure that public services are the best we can offer," he said.

Earlier this week, the common front rejected the government's latest contract offer that included a 12.7 per cent pay raise over five years.

The office of Treasury Board President Sonia LeBeltold CBCit is willing to meet with union negotiators at any time and that negotiations will continue at the bargaining table. Itsays its latest offer totals $9 billion.

"The measures we are proposing will make it possible to reduce mandatory overtime, improve work-life balance and enhance services to the public," it said in a statement.

However,most unions have asked for an increase closer to 20 per cent over three years. They have said the increases the government has offered effectively amount to a pay cut because of inflation and years of wage loses.

Quebec's largest nurses' union, theFdrationinterprofessionnelle de la sant du Qubec(FIQ),will begin a four-day strike on Monday. According to Radio-Canada, the FIQpresented the Quebec government with a counter-offer on Friday.

In a statement, the FIQ told CBC it had been asking for a 24 per cent increase over three years, but is now asking 20 per cent, a 14 per cent increase over four years plus asix per cent boost for 2022.

Teachers with the Fdration autonomede l'enseignementhave been on an unlimited strike since Nov. 23.