By Nicolas Phébus
Quebec correspondent

On Oct. 30, the public sector unions in Québec made their central demands for the negotiations with the province. Under the banner "together for public services", they are demanding a negotiated agreement that includes better pay, improved retirement plans and accommodation of workers family commitments. The demands are backed by a “Common Front” of unions representing 475,000 workers in health care, social services, education, public service and government agencies. While the mobilization is not yet impressive, and may never become, some unions and activists are taking positive steps for wider grassroots participation.

Video of the delivery of the demands to the Quebec government

As the unions put it in their collective bargaining statement, "our working conditions are increasingly difficult, and in many sectors there are real problems in attracting new workers and keeping the employees we already have".

"We are concerned", they say, "because our pay is often less that the going rates in the private sector and many people prefer to work elsewhere rather than serve the citizens of Québec." Actually, recent studies from the government’s own agency show that the average public sector wage of $36,000 lags behind the general population by 7.7%.

The unions are demanding an 11.25% wage hike over the next three years. But wages are not everything, they are also pressing for improvement to the government retirement plan. But the major issue could be what they call "conciliation travail-famille", which is an issue that is rising to prominence all over Quebec. It calls for accommodation for workers to deal with family commitments, such as taking some time off work if their kid is sick. This is especially relevant in an industry where 75% of the workers are women and a full third is precarious, working irregular hours. In addition to adjustments in the collective agreements, unions are demanding a law that would apply to the whole working class.

Today's public sector Common Front is the largest since the infamous 1972 Common Front which led the whole working class into an illegal general strike that took an insurrectionary character. While not exactly the same mood, the 2009 Common Front is impressive because it's taking place after a major split in the public sector unions following the 2005 negotiations which ended in a repressive government decree. The bargaining strategy of the Common Front is also "historical" in a way. The demands were ready and made on the very day the negotiations could legally start, 5 months before the government decree will expire. The labour leadership clearly wants fast negotiations and that's why they limited the demands. Actually, their biggest demand is probably this: a negotiated agreement. Anything would do, as long as the unions can get away without having another decree that limits their activity stuffed down the throats of their members. If they succeed it would be the first time since 1999.

For the moment, the mobilization is not yet impressive on the ground. There was a successful provincial tour to present the demands to the members and 2000 people attended a gathering in Québec City to deliver the demands. But according to many activists, the mobilization has not yet reached the workplaces. People are still bitter from the last negotiations and are in a mood "not to be fooled again". Some unions and activists are taking positive steps to get some grassroots input. One example of this is the Confederation Des Syndicats Nationaux which is using the web in a more creative way. They decided to open up communication by creating an open publishing website with the common "web 2.0" features --including a blog-- where every member (and the public) can create an account to post comments and even their own stories. To date grassroots activists have been trained in 200 different unions to use this new tool. So far, some 101 stories have been posted to the "news" section of the web site by its users. Hopefully, this is only a sign of things to come.