Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

Quebecers should soon learn whether public sector workers have accepted the Front commun-negotiated agreement in principle made with the provincial government that was announced last December. Final results are expected to be out later this week, after a five-week voting period by CSN, CSQ, APTS and FTQ-affiliated union members came to an end on February 19.  

The intersectoral agreement provides for a 17.4 per cent wage increase over five years for all workers in all sectors. The tentative deal also includes improvements to the collective agreement in terms of vacation leave, retirement, group insurance, parental rights, and other issues. 

As previously reported, the Chateauguay Valley Teachers Association and the support staff members of Syndicat des employées et employés professionnels et de bureau (SEPB 576) endorsed the agreement in principle.  

New Frontiers School Board blue-collar workers, who are members of the Service Union Employees local 800 which is affiliated with the FTQ, voted 64 per cent in favour of the contract. A total of 25 employees participated in the vote, which took place on January 27. Overall, 57 per cent of the blue-collar workers within Quebec’s English school board system have approved of the agreement. 

According to Daniel Wormeli, the president of the New Frontiers Association of Professionals (NFAP) and unit delegate for the Syndicat des professionnelles et professionnels de l’Ouest de Québec Anglophone which is affiliated with the CSQ, the NFAP voted 92 per cent in favour of the agreement. The overall result for the SPPOQA, which represents English-speaking education professionals in western Quebec, was 89.8 per cent in agreement with the contract offer.  

In the health sector, workers with the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) employed by the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-ouest voted 75.3 per cent in favour of the agreement in principle. The results were compiled following six special general assemblies, including two held in person on January 25 in Saint-Hyacinthe and February 1 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, and four virtual meetings on January 17 and February 15.