The 2050 engineers working for the Quebec government are stepping up the pressure: they’re going on unlimited strike as of May 2.
Until then, they will continue the evening, night and weekend strikes they have already begun, said Marc-André Martin, president of the Association professionnelle des ingénieurs du gouvernement du Québec (APIGQ), in an interview on Friday.
These engineers work in government ministries — 1,200 of them — in departments such as transport, environment, and natural resources. They issue permits and oversee project planning.
The issue
The president of the APIGQ maintains Quebec is not really offering government engineers the same “budgetary envelope” it granted to all government employees.
Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel insists that the government did offer engineers salary increases of 17.4 per cent over five years, similar to what was offered to other government employees.
“A global agreement proposal, including the plus 17.4 per cent as agreed with 98 per cent of the other public unions, was tabled on Jan. 8, 2025,” the minister said.
Martin pointed out that, in addition to the 17.4 per cent salary increase, the public employees had received another amount, which he said was equivalent to 7 or 8 per cent, for insurance, leave, bonuses and other benefits — something that had not been offered to the engineers.
He says his members “have the feeling that the government insists on giving us less than the others.”
“What we’re asking for is neither more nor less than the others, no more, no less. We want access to these same envelopes”, insists the union leader.
Negotiations continue
After reading the strike notice, the minister was nonetheless confident.
“If we manage to come to an agreement with 98 per cent of the public and parapublic sector unions, an agreement with the engineers is quite possible very quickly,” she said.
“However, the agreement with the engineers will be reached on an equal footing with all the other groups. The framework established in this round of negotiations will not be called into question,” she continued.
“We’re in no hurry to sign a bad agreement. Yesterday, we had a meeting; people are behind us. We told them: ‘listen, it’s not true that we’re going to leave money on the table; it’s not true that we’re going to sign below the other groups,‘” Martin said.
The strike mandate was supported by 87.9 per cent, with a participation rate of 85 per cent, he said.
The parties have one month to reach an agreement on the renewal of the collective agreement before the strike is extended.
On Friday morning, no further negotiating sessions were scheduled. But Martin says he’s ready to negotiate at any time. “Our phones are open.”
In the event of an engineers’ strike, essential services are provided to ensure public health and safety. Martin noted that 350 engineers are assigned to this task.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 28, 2025.
