After 14 months of unsuccessful negotiations and 26 months without a salary increase, employees of the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) affiliated with the Steelworkers Union launched a 48-hour strike Friday morning, demanding more seriousness from the government to negotiation tables.
The ferries connecting Quebec and Lévis, Matane to the North Shore, and the one between Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola have also been out of service since 6 a.m. this morning. Without an employment contract since March 2023, STQ navigation officers and mechanics believe that this will send a strong message.
“There is still no mandate given to the negotiating tables. […] We have the impression that we are being fooled and that is unacceptable,” said the assistant to the Quebec director of the Steelworkers, Nicolas Lapierre, at the start of this first strike sequence.
“Everything is at a standstill. […] We have meetings, but nothing happens. Meanwhile, our members are being caught up in the cost of living. STQ officers earn $10 less per hour than officers who do comparable work elsewhere in Quebec,” added the Steelworkers union representative for the maritime sector, Luc Laberge.
“A very hot summer”
With a mandate to hold eight more days of strikes, members will not hesitate to use their means of pressure to advance the negotiations which are mainly failing on salaries and the use of subcontracting.
“We are going to have a very hot summer, literally and figuratively, I guarantee that if the CAQ does not take its fingers off its nose and if the mandates are not given at the negotiating tables,” said said Mr. Lapierre.
The latter also says he is aware that as with any strike, pressure tactics have an impact on users of the service, but in no way holds his members responsible.
“It is possible to resolve this, we are available, but there still needs to be a political will to do it and at the moment this is not the case so the impacts on the population, it “It’s the government that is responsible,” he added, specifying that the CAQ is the guarantor of this bad theater from the Treasury Board.
Remember that other groups representing uncertified employees are also planning to demonstrate during the summer. Employees of the Quebec-Lévis ferry have also threatened to go on strike during the Quebec Summer Festival (FEQ) if they cannot reach an agreement with the employer.
