Saying they were “exasperated” by the attitude of the management side, employees of the branches of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) decided to launch a fifth day of strike this Monday.
Posted at 1:38 a.m.
Updated at 6:00 a.m.
“Since the beginning of October, the employer has essentially been telling us the same thing: withdraw all your demands, accept all our setbacks and perhaps, one day, we will discuss your priorities,” declared Lisa Courtemanche, president of the Employees’ Union. -es of stores and offices of the SAQ (SEMB-SAQ – CSN), in a press release published Monday.
“This position is unacceptable: we have identified the priority issues on which we want to work, we have withdrawn several requests and we have made a counter-proposal to the SAQ’s salary offer. Despite this, the SAQ systematically refuses to come forward and tell us how it intends to respond to the problems we are experiencing. »
Wages and insurance are among the main areas of disagreement. While the SAQ is proposing a salary increase of 16.5% over six years, the union has for its part gone with a counter-proposal of a salary increase of 20% over five years.
We are also asking that employees have quicker access to an insurance plan. For the moment, they must wait seven years before being entitled to it.
“There is no company in Quebec that operates with nearly 70% of its employees on such a precarious basis,” for her part underlined in the same press release the president of the CSN, Caroline Senneville.
“The revenues of the SAQ benefit all of Quebec, but that is no reason to keep thousands of employees in such precariousness. Waiting 12 years before having a stable schedule, 7 years before being entitled to insurance, it just doesn’t make sense. What is the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, waiting for to require the SAQ to treat its employees better? Should we remind him that it is largely thanks to them that the state-owned company brings the government dividends of $1.4 billion? »
Surprise strikes
Two weeks ago, union members launched two surprise strikes, including one on Friday afternoon, when many customers go to the branch in anticipation of the end-of-day aperitif. Questioned at this time, Isabelle Dufour, vice-president, sales network operations, of the SAQ, for her part recognized “that it was time for this to be resolved”.
She also added that both parties had an interest in reaching an agreement before the holiday season, a lucrative period for the state-owned company.
During the last two days of the strike, branches remained open. Executives then provided service to customers on the floor. The 5,000 members of the Union of Store and Office Employees have been without a collective agreement since March 2023.
The president of the union will provide an update this Monday in front of the SAQ branch at the Jean-Talon market in Montreal.
