The Front commun will be on strike on November 21, 22 and 23

November 06, 2023

Montreal - With 420,000 workers on strike across Québec since midnight, the Front commun announced this morning that the next strike sequence will take place from November 21 to 23, unless an agreement is reached by then.

“Today we’re announcing the timing of the second strike sequence, which will be held over three full days. Our message this morning is clear: our negotiating teams are fully available for the next two weeks. The goal is to reach a win-win settlement for workers and services to the public. No one wants another strike, but we’ll be ready if we have to be,” said Front commun spokespersons François Enault, first vice-president of the CSN, Éric Gingras, president of the CSQ, Magali Picard, president of the FTQ, and Robert Comeau, president of the APTS.

“That said, it’s important to understand that this movement is a demonstration of the determination of our members, who voted 95% in favour of the strike and who are ready to go all the way, right up to an unlimited general strike, if the government doesn’t get the message,” the spokespersons were keen to point out.  

On October 29, the Conseil du trésor tabled an offer containing a derisory wage increase of just 1.3%. The wage offer, which went from 9% over five years to 10.3% for the same period, would do nothing to solve the problems caused by the immense backwardness suffered by the 420,000 workers in the Front commun. On the contrary, it would make them poorer.

“After 100,000 people came out to support the Front commun in the streets on September 23, after an unlimited general strike mandate passed by 95% and after an insulting tabling last Sunday, the government is now pushing us to strike. It’s reaping what it sowed, no less. Right now, we’ve trimmed our demands at all the sectoral tables. But one thing is certain: workers’ expectations are high. Letting our world be impoverished is non-negotiable”, thundered the spokespersons. 

It should also be remembered that the government chose to give parliamentarians 30% enrichment and catch-up, to which other annual increases will be added, and that it offered 21% over five years to police officers at the Sûreté du Québec, an offer that was refused. The salary agreement to be reached with the Front commun will have to obtain the same level of consideration.