It took Pak-Kei Wong fifteen years working in Quebec public education before he joined his union. For most of the eleven years he taught math, then as a program advisor, Wong worked in contractual positions, never having enough job security to become involved in labour organizing. So his first order of business, after finally becoming a permanent, full time education advisor, was to join the union.
As Wong settled in, rumblings of a Quebec labour movement grew. Quebecers were very familiar with labour organizing; in April of 1972, Quebec workers organized one of the largest strikes in North American history with a “Front Commun” (common front) coalition of 210,000 people. The general strike gathered a total of 300,000 workers across the province, and lasted 10 days.
Just months after Wong joined his union, leaders of three major Quebec unions announced in April 2022 that they had assembled a common front coalition for the 50th anniversary of the 1972 strike, ahead of negotiations with the Quebec government. The last public-sector agreements were set to expire in March 2023, and organizers felt strongly about avoiding another round of long-winded negotiations.
The Quebec government was reminded that there is something called a common front, and we will mobilize when we need to,” Wong said, “and that the union movement is not as dead as they thought it was.
Negotiations with the government had a history of being drawn out. Éric Gingras, the president of the CSQ, referred to it as a “psychodrama of negotiations in Quebec.”
By the end of 2022, four major confederations had united to form the largest labour coalition in Quebec, representing 420,000 workers in sectors including education, healthcare, social services and more. The common front consisted of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), the Fédération des travailleurs et des travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) and l’Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS).
Signs of a major labour demonstration began to mount throughout 2023. Behind the scenes, public sector workers were already organizing, provoked by a provincial government that has pursued a project of austerity since its election in 2018.
The conservative Coalition avenir du Quebec (CAQ) government under premier François Legault proposed a nine per cent increase over five years, which enraged public sector workers who said it wasn’t enough to keep up with inflation, let alone make up for the years of salary increases already missed. By the end of September, tens of thousands took to the streets in Montreal, sending a message to the provincial government that public workers were ready to strike if a better offer wasn’t made. “We don’t hope to get there, (but) it’s a last resort,” said Robert Comeau, president of the APTS, as quoted in the Canadian Press. “Our people are ready.”
Days before the protest, Wong found himself elected in fall 2023 to the common front’s negotiations committee. It marked something different in Quebec’s labour movement: he was the first in recent memory to be elected from an anglophone school, and one of the only racial minorities involved in negotiations with the government.
The CAQ government continued to present new offers throughout the fall, and proposed a 13.3 per cent increase in October, at the brink of the first general strike. Union leaders insisted it was far from what public sector workers were owed, and plans for a general strike pressed on.
By November, Wong was on the picket line with more than half a million Quebec workers as part of the largest strike in Quebec history. Along with the 420,000 common front workers, other major public-sector unions including the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) and the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), struck during the same period, totaling 560,000, or six per cent of the Quebec population.
“The Quebec government was reminded that there is something called a common front, and we will mobilize when we need to,” Wong said, “and that the union movement is not as dead as they thought it was.”
In December, union leaders announced that the possibility of a general strike in January was not “a bluff” and laid the blame for the negotiating impasse squarely at the feet of the Quebec government, the Gazette reports.
It’s definitely not everything we had hoped for, but I think that’s the case in any negotiation,” Wong said. “But I do believe, as one of my colleagues said, it’s a step in the right direction.
Common front representatives announced Friday that all four of its federations voted on the latest deal, with 74.8 per cent in favour. The contract, which is retroactive from April 1, 2023, and stretches into March 31, 2028, includes a 17.4 per cent salary increase spread over five years, beginning with a six per cent bump in the first year. The adopted deal also included improved working conditions and extended phased retirement among other gains.
“It’s an important day, if not historic,” said Magali Picard of the FTQ at a press conference Friday, “We just ended a long negotiation which was an adventure with the Quebec government. As you know, this negotiation took more than a year.”
Wong considers the newly adopted contract a win considering the mobilization it took to get there.
“It’s definitely not everything we had hoped for, but I think that’s the case in any negotiation,” Wong said. “But I do believe, as one of my colleagues said, it’s a step in the right direction.”
Wong’s union, the Fédération du personnel professionnel des collèges (FPPC), is a federation within the CSQ, which voted in favour of the adoption at a rate higher than the common front average. The FPPC represents non-teaching professionals, including counselors, psychologists, information analysts, and more, who work in Quebec’s system of CEGEPs (Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel), or General and professional teaching college in English.
Quebec is the only province in Canada with CEGEPs, which was created in the 1960s to promote access to post-secondary education and vocational training.
Wong considered the work being done at his union, the Fédération du personnel professionnel des collèges (FPPC), to be deeply rooted in the values of working-class Quebecers.
“The CEGEP system is not just about sending people to university. We also have programs that are technical, in the sense that you finish the training and you can go directly into the workforce,” Wong said. “So when we are refining someone’s educational spirit, you want qualified people, you want passionate people to be doing that.”
Éric Cyr, president of the FPPC, says a major struggle in CEGEPs is that the government isn’t an employer of choice.
“Professionals in CEGEPs are underpaid compared to what’s being offered in the (private) labour market right now, so there’s more of a focus on salaries,” Cyr said. “There’s also inflation, and housing has gone up a lot in recent years. CEGEPs are mostly in bigger communities and larger towns in the province, so people have noticed that their salaries haven’t kept up with the cost of (living).”
The CEGEP network stretches throughout the province, from small towns to larger cities. In some regions, the public sector is the biggest employer, making CEGEP campuses a crucial site of educational and economic opportunity.
It’s an important day, if not historic. We just ended a long negotiation which was an adventure with the Quebec government. As you know, this negotiation took more than a year.
“I worked in CEGEPs for more than 20 years, and I really like these institutions. I think they really help students and young adults. And in a way, I think the work we do as unions helps the CEGEP network develop and maintain in quality,” Cyr said. “We like to think that if professionals have better work conditions, they will want to work in CEGEPs, to stay and to help more students.”
Both Wong and Cyr feel that the 2023 common front strike renewed a Quebec tradition.
“It took a lot of energy and passion. People were really fighting for CEGEPs,” Cyr said. “Many of them were convinced they were fighting for themselves, but they were fighting for the network, for students, and for the quality of programs.”
Wong’s mandate in the common front coalition is set to end this month, but he considers his short term as just the beginning.
“I think we have strength in numbers, and that the union movement is very much alive and strong,” Wong said. “And it’s definitely lit my flame to become more involved.”
