A day of strike at the SAQ on Thursday

Last week, the SAQ proposed a 16.5% increase over six years, asking at the same time that the collective agreement be for six rather than five years.

The offer was deemed inadequate by the union, which recalled that the public sector instead obtained a 17.4% increase over five years. At the start of negotiations, the union asked for an 18% increase over three years, in addition to the Consumer Price Index.

Under this collective agreement, the salary of a cashier-seller since April 1, 2022 is $21.50 per hour at the first level and $28.15 per hour at the sixth and final level.

Added to this was a refusal of all union demands. “Our requests are all refused. All, except a hypothetical openness to discussing the conditions for obtaining insurance,” specifies the SEMB-SAQ-CSN in a newsletter sent to its 5,500 members. The union demanded, in particular, greater bonuses for evenings and weekends, protection of regular positions and greater access to group insurance.

Without an employment contract since March 31, 2023, SAQ employees have in hand a mandate for a 15-day strike to be exercised at the appropriate time since March 1, 2024. Last April, they held two days of strike during which the executives worked in certain branches.

The union has been claiming since the start of negotiations that it is much more attractive at the moment to work in the private sector rather than in an SAQ branch where labor turnover reaches more than 25%.

Still according to figures put forward by the union, staff turnover would generate expenses of $6 million per year.