Quebec public sector strikes could inspire others, as workers grow more combative

A successful resolution to Quebec's massive public sector strikes could serve as an inspiration to other workers in the province and elsewhere, a labour policy researcher said Friday after two union groups took major steps toward settling agreements with the government.

A successful resolution to Quebec's massive public sector strikes could serve as an inspiration to other workers in the province and elsewhere, a labour policy researcher said Friday after two union groups took major steps toward settling agreements with the government.

The recent Quebec strikes, among the largest in Canadian history, are part of a broader North American trend in which workers have become increasingly confident and willing to fight for better pay and working conditions, says McGill associate sociology professor Barry Eidlin.

"The big lesson for unions is that strikes work, and strikes are back," he said in a phone interview.

He said workers have had to contend with 40 years of declining working standards, rising inequality, forced overtime, job insecurity and gig work, and the erosion of pensions and health care.

"I think it's time for them to win some of that back," he said.

Two separate union groups announced Thursday they had made major progress toward ending the labour conflict that has closed hundreds of schools, delayed surgeries and brought some half a million workers to the streets intermittently since November.

Teachers union FAE said it had reached a deal in principle with the government and would end its unlimited strike that has shut 800 schools since the end of November.