Press release
Public sector negotiations: The unionized QFL Education sector endorsed the agreements

Workers of education sector affiliated with the QFL have officially endorsed the agreements in principle that were agreed upon with the Quebec government last December.

Everyone pronounced themselves in General Assemblies held between early January and mid-February 2016. All locals voted in favor of the agreements reached at the sectorial table December 8^th, 2015 and at the central table on December 17^th, 2015. The unions affiliated with the QFL account for more than 17 800, of which almost 10 100 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), about 6 500 members of Syndicat des employées et employés profesionnels-les et de bureau (SEPB) and nearly 1200 members of the Service Employees Union (SEU 800).

The new agreement will take effect retroactively from April 1^st, 2015 to March 31^st, 2020.

The wage settlement provides for a lump sum of 1% in 2015 and salary increases of 1.5% in 2016, 1.75% in 2017 and 2% in 2018. In 2019, workers get an average wage increase of 2.4% due to the agreement on salary relativity. That’s over 90% of jobs that will have an increase of more than 2% thanks to the wage restructuring, on April 2^nd, 2019. An additional lump sum of 0.5%, applicable to all as of April 1^st, 2019. The gains in earnings achieved at the sectoral tables of the Common Front represents about 1% of the employee’s salary.

“We mobilized massively to gain the support of the population and foiled the austerity plans of the government. Despite the risk of a special law, we pushed to the limit the negotiation process. We are pleased with the significant gains we have negotiated, ” declared Marie-Josée Alvarez, vice president of CUPE education sector, Berlin Simon, executive director of SEPB and Raymond Larcher, president of the SEU 800.

Representatives of CUPE, SEPB and SEU 800 also reiterated their confidence that the increases negotiated at the central table will be fully applied to all groups in the Para public sector with tow clauses.

With more than 110,000 members in Quebec, CUPE represents some 10,100 members in the education sector in Quebec. SEPB represents about 6,500 members in the majority in the school boards and the rest in health while SEU 800 represents approximately 1,200 members in the English school boards. These three organizations are affiliated to the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL), Quebec’s largest trade union, with over 600,000 members.

SEU 800 free translation from the CUPE/SEPB/SEU 800 press release