After weighing the possibility of ending their general strike, the lawyers and notaries employed by the Quebec government voted Tuesday to continue their walk out.
In meetings held simultaneously in Montreal and Quebec City, the lawyers and notaries, represented in negotiations by their professional association LANEQ, voted 63 per cent in favour of maintaining a strike that has seen the 1,100 government employees off the job since Oct. 24.
The result of the vote appears surprising, given the strike fund that sustained the walk out now being exhausted.
“You have to understand the context,” said lawyer and LANEQ spokesperson François Desroches-Lapointe in the wake of the vote. “It’s been many weeks that our memberships have had no strike pay and no revenue. That’s a difficult context in which to continue a strike. But our members have decided to keep the pressure on the government.”
The lawyers and notaries have been without a contract since March of 2015. They are seeking wage parity with their colleagues in the Crown prosecutors office, as well as recognition of their professional independence as lawyers.
Quebec Treasury Board chairman Pierre Moreau says that’s exactly what the government is offering, adding he’s ready to explain the government offer in person to the association’s membership.
Describing the union leadership as “intransigent,” Moreau said the government has no plans to order the lawyers back to work by decree and is ready to resume negotiations.
