Nunavik schools reopen, some health-care workers remain on strike

Schools in Nunavik have reopened after a three-day strike by Quebec public service workers, but some health-care services remain affected by further strike actions.

Approximately 420,000 public sector workers across the province walked off the job Tuesday as part of a planned three-day strike affecting health care, education and social services.

The workers are members of a common front group of Quebec public sector unions — the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, Centrale des syndicats du Québec, Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec and Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux.

The common front of unions is demanding a three-year contract with Quebec that includes annual increases tied to inflation rates.

Public schools across the province, including in Nunavik, were closed Tuesday through Thursday but were scheduled to reopen Friday, a statement on the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq School Board website said.

In a statement to Nunatsiaq News, board spokesperson Julia Bustos said negotiations for a new collective agreement are ongoing.

Meanwhile, a separate two-day strike organized by a different health-care workers union, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé, began Thursday.

That union represents about 80,000 health-care workers in Quebec, meaning health-care services across the province may continue to be impacted through Friday, said Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services spokesperson Kathleen Poulin.

Emergency health services will not be affected but other non-emergency services may be slowed down, in particular on the Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay coasts.

Another union, the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement, which represents 66,000 elementary and high school teachers in the four largest urban centres in Quebec, began an unlimited strike Thursday.