At present, I have the firm conviction that I am witnessing, powerless and without my consent, a fight between two pugilists, who, in addition to disrespecting each other, are very bad amateur boxers incapable of fighting, but who have finally convinced themselves mutually opposite. . If you’re a boxing fan like me, you’re definitely disappointed with the fight.
In the left corner, we find François Legault who would not even tolerate working in his own public service. For lack of interest, for lack of opportunities, and above all because I would not pass the interview test.
Many recruiters would find their application attractive, but very few would be convinced by their answers when it comes to talking about employee management. You just can’t sell yourself and you can’t convince us that you’re the man for the job.
Salary increase
Mr. Legault, you are totally out of touch with the reality of the wonderful world of work. You know nothing about human resources. Knowing how to manage numbers is not the same as knowing how to manage people. Knowing how to negotiate and being a good negotiator is not an indicator of success and understanding the interests and humans behind the negotiation processes and mechanisms.
Because you quickly jump to conclusions when you relate percentage points to the personal and professional lives of 600,000 government employees, we do the same with the conclusions of Patrice Jalette, a professor at the School of Industrial Relations at the University of Montreal, who published a study entitled “Professional relations at a time of labor shortage”. Regarding compensation, Mr. Jalette noted that significant wage increases have been negotiated in several companies since 2020. Employers and unions in the private sector are no longer waiting for the collective agreement to expire to revise salaries upwards. They are increasingly negotiating letters of understanding to remain competitive with the market and not with unionized civil service employees.
Mr. Legault, let’s leave aside the regulatory and contractual aspects, let’s leave the dire working conditions for which you are honored by your silence, and let’s focus solely on the economic aspect. So salary increases around 9% over 5 years or your revised version offering 10.3% over 5 years is a joke. Who do you think you are attracting with these numbers that can no longer hide the miserable conditions you offer your workers? Who do you think you’re holding back when all the private data proves them right? Apart from convincing me that you are out of touch with the reality of workers, of your workers, what are you trying to force us to swallow?
Since you like numbers, Mr. Legault, have your advisers told you that, as of February 2023, employers in Quebec planned to grant average wage increases of 4.4% in 2023? This planned increase, which materialized, is higher than what was actually granted in Quebec in 2022. This is explained by the survey update on Salary forecasts for 2023 published by the Order of Certified Human Resources Advisors.
Union leaders
Having knocked out the pugilist in the left corner, let’s now look at the one in the right corner, the public sector union leaders.
First question: what good is it if you can’t trade anything but inflation? Why continue to grant yourself a monopoly on representation if you can’t get more than the bare minimum? Almost every comparable private sector puts the nail in your coffin. It should be noted that in the private sector there is no need to paralyze the system with unlimited general strikes to achieve 0.25% more per year.
People will be looking for even bigger raises without your help. Even private unionized companies award more than the minimum you will be looking for.
Mr. Legault, to justify your stubbornness and to take advantage of the current strategy against the unions unable to negotiate and which will soon begin to alienate the population, you say that Quebecers do not have the ability to pay! This is false, you and I already pay for services, unlike you, I do not receive these services.
Instead of questioning our ability to pay, we should question your ability to manage public funds.
Kévyn Gagné, CRIA, M. Sc. Human Resources Director/HR Manager
