Quebec's civil servants eye strike action
SPGQ union represents government experts, Revenu Québec employees and other public-sector workers
Members of the union representing 24,000 provincial white-collar workers have endorsed holding a strike vote.
The SPGQ union's president Richard Perron said the decision is the result of the government's inflexibility at the negotiation table.
He said the union and the government are now deadlocked after a number of failed meetings.
Perron argued that the employer has refused to discuss union demands, and remains uncompromising in its commitment to reduce the overall salary expenses, including pensions.
The union represents 17,000 public-sector workers, 4,400 Revenu Québec employees and other governmental experts.
Union delegates approved short, medium and long-term strike mandates over the weekend, and also supported a general strike mandate of three days. They also supported a general unlimited strike for evening and weekend work stoppages.
The 24,000 union members will be able to vote between Oct. 14 and Nov. 6, meaning they could be striking as early as Nov. 18.