In Canada’s Quebec province, 420,000 public sector workers demanded greater wages to keep up with inflation on Monday, the first of three one-day strikes.
Schools, hospitals, and social services were all likely to be impacted. Three additional strike days are also scheduled for late November.
The coalition of big unions also warned “an unlimited general strike” on Monday if the two parties in the predominantly French-speaking province could not reach an agreement promptly.
The Quebec government has offered a 10% raise over five years and a one-time payment of Can$1,000 to each worker, which the coalition has called “insulting, offensive, and contemptuous.”
Failure to keep pace with rising living costs would effectively “make workers poorer,” the unions said in a statement.
The so-called Common Front of unions is requesting hikes of two to three percentage points above inflation, which has recently dropped to 3.8 percent from a peak of 8.1 percent in June 2022.