The president of Hydro-Québec’s second-largest employee union, with 5,500 members, is betting on the upcoming resumption of conciliation to break the deadlock in negotiations and finally reach an agreement to renew its collective agreement.
Negotiations have been ongoing for 18 months. The Syndicat des spécialistes et professionnels d’Hydro-Québec has a five-day strike mandate, but has not yet exercised it.
The dispute ended up before the Administrative Labor Tribunal this summer after Hydro-Québec submitted a final and comprehensive offer on July 16, distributing it directly to union members by email and asking the union to put it to a vote before Aug. 22, failing which the offer would be revoked after that date.
The union, which is a local branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the FTQ, filed a complaint with the Tribunal alleging obstruction and bargaining in bad faith. It was partially successful at the preliminary stage on July 26.
The Tribunal ordered Hydro-Québec not to interfere with or interfere in the union’s activities and “not to address employees directly in an attempt to influence the outcome of the negotiations.”
It is in this context that conciliation between the parties is set to resume in the coming days.
In an interview on Friday, union president Gilles Cazade said he believed that “with a little goodwill, we can reach an agreement fairly quickly” with Hydro-Québec.
The use of subcontractors is at the heart of the dispute. The union says it wants to keep expertise in-house, while Hydro-Québec says it needs flexibility depending on its needs.
On the issue of wages, Cazade said that “it’s not settled yet” and that further discussions will be needed, but “there is a way to reach an agreement; we’re not light years apart.”
The employer’s final offer was nevertheless presented to members at a meeting on Aug. 12. They will be asked to vote on it on Oct. 1. But Cazade points out that it has not generated any enthusiasm whatsoever.
He is therefore counting on the resumption of conciliation to make sufficient progress in the negotiations.
At the time of writing, Hydro-Québec management had not yet commented.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
