I Wish I Had 8%!!

ik - not sure about the daycare thing, but it's time Québec unions started to think about the future of the Québec economy, and about who is going to pay for all of this. I mean, the unions rejected an offer of a 10% salary increase!! Yes, yes, I know it's 8% over a few years, and some questions remain about the pay equity issue. But c'mon. Real Solidarity - to use the language of Big Labour (which I used to support) - means taking responsibility for ourselves, and not mortgaging our kids' future. Let's put down the placards and find some solutions.

Union leaders vow resistance as Quebec imposes 8% deal
Charest government also forces passage of bill revamping daycare system

KEVIN DOUGHERTY
The Gazette
Friday, December 16, 2005

As outraged union leaders vowed resistance, the Charest government imposed an eight-per-cent pay settlement last night on more than 500,000 public sector employees.

Using the unprecedented manoeuvre of adjourning the National Assembly one day and calling it back into emergency session the next, the government also forced passage of its controversial Bill 124, revamping Quebec's daycare system.

Premier Jean Charest said the government negotiated for 18 months and held more than 1,500 bargaining sessions with public sector unions.

"We did all we could," he told the assembly.

Questioning the urgency of both a wage settlement and the daycare law, acting opposition leader Louise Harel noted there had not been "a single hour" of talks on salary with public sector negotiators before Bill 142, imposing a settlement.

All the negotiations - with the exception of talks last June with teachers and civil servants, when the unions turned down a 10-per-cent offer - were on non-salary issues

Andre Boisclair, elected Parti Quebecois leader a month ago, attended a meeting of the PQ caucus, but left the attack to Harel and other Pequiste critics.

Across Quebec, about 43,000 union members took to the streets in their last day of legal strike action before March 31, 2010, when the imposed settlement runs out.

Bill 142 would dock two days of pay for every strike day, on top of daily fines of $100 to $500 for individuals, $7,000 to $35,000 for union leaders and between $25,000 and $125,000 on union federations counselling illegal strike action.

Union leaders were unanimous in condemning Bill 142.