Government engineers approved the July 19 agreement between the Professional Association of Government Engineers of Quebec (APIGQ) and the Secretariat of the Treasury Board with a majority of 90.37%.
• Also read: Quebec gets along with its engineers
A total of 1,610 members took part in the voting, which began July 21 and ended at 4 p.m. Aug. 2, according to a press release Wednesday.
For APIGQ, the central element of this agreement is based on the creation of a new class of engineers (Senior Grade), which will result in a salary increase. The weekly working time will also be increased to 37.5 hours and will include greater flexibility in working hours.
The agreement “also specifies the roles and responsibilities of engineers in government” and allows for the formation of two joint committees.
“These new measures will allow the Quebec government to increase its power to retain experienced engineers, whose migration to the ‘other public’ sector and consulting engineering firms has been detrimental to in-house engineering know-how for years,” he says APIGQ.
“We are pleased to be going in the right direction thanks to the agreement in principle, but it is important to keep working to agree on the texts of the collective agreement. Strengthening technical expertise within the Government of Quebec remains a priority for APIGQ and the next few years will be key to continue to attract and retain our engineers,” said Marc-André Martin, President of APIGQ.
Remember that on April 22 some 1,800 state engineers went on an indefinite strike to demand back pay.