In Quebec, hundreds of thousands of public sector employees did not go to work
The massive strike by public employees affected the entire province.
A group of four unions calling themselves the Common Front, representing some 420,000 public sector workers, is continuing its three-day strike from Nov. 21 to 23.
Hundreds of thousands of employees of state-owned enterprises in Quebec are hard to ignore. Education and health care workers are among the strikers, and for the second day in the province, many schools have been closed and scheduled operations have been postponed.
What do the strikers want?
This question is briefly answered by Éric Gingras, president of one of the "Common Front" unions, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ):
"What's missing? Real interest from the government to be talking to us, to be trying to find a way to get a deal done."
Josée Frechette, vice president of the health care workers union, told reporters Tuesday that workers want extra pay for night and weekend shifts, as well as more vacation time.
At the moment, the provincial government is only offering a 10.3% wage increase over five years and a one-time payment of CA$ 1,000 to each worker, which the strikers agree is not enough because it doesn't even cover inflation.
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