Surprise one-day strike by SAQ employees

The approximately 5,000 employees of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) once again launched a surprise one-day strike on Monday, deploring the “impasse” that persists at the negotiating table.

This is the fifth surprise walkout by employees affiliated with the Union of Store and Office Employees. SAQ.

Today’s walkout is strategic in that it is on Monday that branches receive deliveries from warehouses. Warehouse workers SAQ are not members of the same union; they are therefore not on strike.

The union has a 15-day strike mandate to be exercised at the appropriate time. Two strike days have already been held in April and two more in October.

Despite the strike, the management of the SAQ said that several branches operated by executives have been open since noon.

Meanwhile, hundreds of union members gathered at the World Trade Center in Montreal late this morning to demonstrate against the slow pace of negotiations to renew their employment contract.

We are here so that the negotiations can open and can finally take place, also, because we have been negotiating for almost two years. We have to come to a conclusion.

For months, negotiations have stalled on the question of salaries, group insurance and the number of part-time positions in the company.

Negotiations continue between the parties; another meeting is also planned for Tuesday, said Lisa Courtemanche, president of the union.

The ball is in the employer’s court. He currently has everything in hand to resolve. We have been in negotiations for 22 months; That puts the pressure on him, he must have it, at the moment, so as not to “scrap” consumers’ Christmasadded Lisa Courtemanche during the rally in downtown Montreal.

We have made several concessions for the organization of work and for the flexibility of SAQ. It’s time [pour la partie patronale] to recognize the efforts we made in this negotiation by limiting job cuts, protecting our employment floor and paying what is owed to usexplained Ms. Courtemanche before the gathering.

Despite the efforts of managers, many branches will remain closed on Monday in Quebec. During the last day of the strike, October 18, only around sixty branches remained open.

We hope to settle before Christmassays the president of the Confederation of National Unions (CSN), Caroline Senneville. To negotiate, it takes good faith, it takes openness, it takes listening. We cannot navigate from one ultimatum to another.

Pay before the holidays

For its part, management also says it wants to resolve the situation before the holidays.

However, she said she was disappointed that union members decided to walk off the job while negotiations are still continuing. A meeting must take place on Tuesday.

Since the strike days of October 17 and 18, we have held several meetings on the monetary aspect and, although there is still a long way to go to find common ground, discussions continued. As the holidays approach, we reiterate our desire to resolve this agreement in order to return to normalcy for both our employees and our customers.

Management said they hope that customers who still visit a branch will not suffer the repercussions of the labor conflict. We also hope that this day of strike will take place with respect and that the experience of the customers who choose to come to our branches today will live up to our values ​​and the standards that guide us.

Propositions

Above all, the union is demanding an improvement in working conditions for part-time employees as well as improved insurance and better access to it. About two thirds of the employees of the SAQ are part-time and take a dozen years to obtain a permanent position with stable hours and pay, according to the union.

Employees are demanding protection of the number of permanent positions, which would concern approximately 30% of staff.

It’s still extraordinary to see that if you work at McDonald’s, you will have access to insurance more quickly than if you work at the SAQeven though it is still a state corporation that brings in more than a billion dollars in Quebecdeplores Caroline Senneville, of the CSN.

The most recent increase proposed by the SAQ is around 16.5% over six years, which the union considers too low. He submitted a counter-offer of 20% over five years. For comparison, the public sector Common Front achieved an increase of 17.4% over five years with anti-inflation provisions.

The SEMB-SAQ–CSN and the state corporation have been negotiating a new collective agreement for almost two years. The employees have been without an employment contract since March 31, 2023.

With information from The Canadian Press