Reform of labor standards: No 4th holiday week

It's no surprise that we learned last Wednesday, the 7 February, that the Government of Quebec is abandoning the idea of ​​granting a fourth week of vacation to employees with more than 10 years of.

The bill, which was not to be tabled until March, was therefore killed in the bud by employers' representatives who shouted that they were going to be made to bear a burden ranging from 400 at 600 millions of dollars a year, that it would create a mess for businesses operating in several provinces and that it was better to tackle the disparity between young and old.. Lame arguments you say? You are quite right.

Although skillfully reported by La Presse, what nobody seems to have mentioned so far is that this "extra charge" more or less 500 millions of dollars will be assumed collectively by employers. While Quebec has several thousand, as an example, the net profits of 8 of its 10 larger companies were reaching the sum of 26 750 millions in 2010. What do 500 millions of dollars for employers? Less of 2% profits from a handful of its businesses.

Regarding the "clutter" that such a measure would create for companies operating in several provinces, we wonder how the application of a fourth week of vacation would be so different than the application of any other labor standards? MacDonald is present in 116 countries around the world, in Canada the minimum wage varies from province to province and access to unemployment from region to region. A jumble? Perhaps, but nothing that companies are not used to already.

Finally, our good government claims to want to tackle the disparity between the youngest and the oldest and oldest in the company. We would like to remind him, Firstly, that the real inequality is between us and our friends, not between us and our colleagues who have been working longer. Beside, that if the thing is really important to him we are open to upward negotiation and not downward. The only thing more ridiculous than offering 4 weeks after 10 years of work, is to refuse 4 weeks after 10 years of work. If it is with this kind of modification to labor standards that the Minister of Labor intends to appease the discontent and calm the union renewal, we have news for him!

 

Mathieu Stakh