Canadian Lawyer

8 J U N E 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ P R A I R I E S \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP C E N T R A L M erdique. That's how one Quebec government lawyer described the mood among his 1,100 colleagues since they were forced back to work on March 1 after an historic 19-week strike. Shitty. "Everything appears normal because we're professionals with a high level of integrity who take pride in our work rep- resenting Quebec and its citizens," said the lawyer, who asked not to be identified. "But we're swamped with huge backlogs of work and we're angry with our employ- er, who is also our client. The general sen- timent is they did not deal with us in good faith and they don't appreciate our work." Without a contract since 2015, Quebec government lawyers and notaries took to the streets on Oct. 24 in what would become the longest public service strike in Canadian history. The media focus was on their wage demands, which were akin to the 10-per- cent-over-four-year deal that Quebec's 450 Crown counsel were awarded by an arbi- trator last spring. But wage parity with prosecutors was a distant second to the state lawyers' desire to change their current negotiation pro- cess and give up their right to strike in exchange for the same binding arbitration process that Quebec granted Crown attor- neys, who have their own bargaining unit. That concession was granted in nego- tiations that followed a two-week strike by all government lawyers in 2011. That strike also ended in back-to-work legislation, much of which was cut-and-pasted into the 2017 law. Quebec Treasury Board Minister Pierre Moreau added salt to the state lawyers' wounds by arguing publicly that they do not require the same level of independence in the determination of their working con- ditions as Crown attorneys. "That was a real slap in the face for state lawyers, and the reason why the strike went on for so long," said Dalia Gesualdi- Fecteau, a former government lawyer who now teaches labour and employment law at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She said the legal opinions and services that state lawyers provide their employer/ client with on a daily basis — everything from policy development and legislative drafting to advisory and legal services and litigation — puts them in an awkward negotiating position. "They don't want to bargain working conditions with their employer while giv- ing legal opinions to their client that might displease them," said Gesualdi-Fecteau. "It's not a normal relationship." François Desroches-Lapointe agrees. A board member of Quebec's state lawyers' union — Les avocats et notaires de l'État québécois, or LANEQ — he said Que- bec created a negotiation cleavage that is unique in Canada. "We had the same working conditions as the Crown for 50 years in Quebec, like in every other province," said Desroches- Lapointe, a lawyer with Quebec's public auto insurance Crown corporation, the SAAQ. "They changed all that and refuse to reconsider, which is very frustrating for our members." Regrouped mostly in Quebec City and Montreal, the state lawyers demonstrated loudly for weeks in the streets and in front of government buildings. They notably dis- turbed a visit in December to the National Assembly by Monaco's Prince Albert II, forcing Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard to issue a public apology. In January, LANEQ members voted 97 per cent to reject the government's third wage offer, while 63 per cent voted to con- tinue the strike. With their $8-million war chest depleted (half of it from loans that are being repaid through an already-activated increase in union dues to 3 per cent from 0.75 per cent of members' salaries), the state lawyers also voted to reduce their strike pay down to zero from a high of 60 per cent of their weekly salaries when the strike began. Despite public pleas from the Barreau du Québec and a group of high-profile Montreal lawyers in private practice for a negotiated end to the strike, the govern- ment introduced back-to-work legislation in late February. The special law notably imposed a 105- day negotiation and mediation period on both sides. If they fail to reach an agree- ment, the government will then impose the lowest of its three offers — a 5.25-per- cent increase over five years. Desroches-Lapointe held out little hope for a negotiated settlement before the mid- June deadline. "The outcome is already dictated by law, so the government has little incentive to be generous," he said. Worse, he added, is the fact that the law "clearly states" the mediator cannot address or have jurisdiction over the lawyers' prin- cipal demand, which is the issue of the negotiation process. According to Desroches-Lapointe, those legislative shackles, together with the emotional upheavals and financial hard- ships from the four-month strike, made it tough for state lawyers to return to work with their heads held high. In addition to a constitutional chal- lenge of the government's back-to-work law at the Superior Court level and a grievance for bad-faith bargaining by government to the provincial labour board, Desroches-Lapointe said state lawyers are finding some strike-related solace as comrades in arms. "Being outside together for so long helped to create a new and strong feel- ing of solidarity among us," he said. — MARK CARDWELL Quebec strike hangover François Desroches-Lapointe

• Cover