Lia Levesque, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL – Loto-Québec’s 455 workers will go on strike again starting September 10.

Their union, the Québec Government Professionals (SPGQ), said Tuesday that its members had rejected the agreement in principle reached between the parties on Aug. 25 to extend their collective bargaining agreement by a 72% majority.

These professionals will therefore go on strike again starting September 10, and this time it will be a general and indefinite strike, said Lydia Martel, first vice president of the Quebec government’s syndicate of professionals, in an interview.

They had previously conducted a six-day strike within their 20-day mandate.

The main problem is the proposed salary increases, Ms. Martel reported. “One of the main reasons is that they are not satisfied with the salary offer: a salary increase of 2 percent in 2022, at this point, with the current rate of inflation, is like a slap in the face for them. ‘ she reported.

The restrictions on teleworking are also a problem, as the agreement basically provides that it is allowed up to four days a week for 30 months. After that, according to Ms. Martel, nothing was guaranteed.

These SPGQ members work in procurement, information technology, communications, sales and marketing, finance, real estate and legal.

Ms Martel notes that computer based lotteries could be impacted and slowed down as the majority of these professionals are in information technology.

Invited for comment, Loto-Québec’s management had not released its comment at the time of writing.