Press release
Negotiation in the public sector – THE COMMON FRONT CALLS FOR CONCILIATION

Montreal, November 20, 2023. – As the historic strike movement by 420,000 workers in the education, college health and social services networks gets underway across Quebec this week, the Common Front announces that it called on the Minister of Labour last Thursday to bring a conciliator to the bargaining table.

“Exceptional circumstances call for exceptional measures. Asking for the intervention of a conciliator at the central table has never been done before,” said Common Front spokespersons François Enault, first vice-president of the CSN, Éric Gingras, president of the CSQ, Magali Picard, president of the QFL, and Robert Comeau, president of the APTS.

The Common Front underlines that this initiative is intended to generate real movement in the negotiations and move the parties toward an agreement. “From the outset, the government plays largely in the public space and on social networks. Our members are fed up with these public relations strategies to the detriment of real work at the tables, and so are we. Conciliation therefore appears to be a way of moving on to another stage and arriving at a satisfactory settlement,” say the union leaders, who insist on the seriousness of the approach.

If it’s true that public sector negotiations are highly political, and that public opinion plays an important role, then it’s important that the work is carried out at the table. At present, whatever the government may say, this is not the case.

For more information on this negotiation visit: frontcommun.org.

Information:

Noémi Desrochers, CSN	Cellulaire : 514 216-1825	noemi.desrochers@csn.qc.ca
Maude Messier, CSQ	Cellulaire : 514 213-0770	messier.maude@lacsq.org
Jean Laverdière, QFL	Cellulaire : 514 893-7809	jlaverdiere@ftq.qc.ca
Maxime Clément, APTS	Cellulaire : 514 792-0481	mclement@aptsq.com

Traduction: UES800