Montreal Canada.

Thousands of officials from public administration, education, health and social services took to the streets of the province of Quebec ask salary increases and better working conditions, the first day of a “historic” week of strike In Canada.

In total, some 600,000 civil servants in the French-speaking province are planning to leave their jobs this week, and some will begin a indefinite movement after months of unsuccessful negotiations with the regional government.

Since Tuesday and for three days, some 420,000 people, represented by the inter-union Common Frontthey fill a strike.

This is the second mobilization of the month.

They will be joined on Thursday by 66,000 teachers from Independent Education Federation this will start a strike general undefined. For their part, some 80,000 nurses and other health professionals will also stop working on Thursday and Friday.

“We have the impression that the government chooses, but it does not choose public services,” Valérie Fontaine, president of the Federation of Higher Education Support Personnel, told AFP.

“The main obstacle is salary. We have a salary difference in public services (compared to private services, editor’s note) which is increasing”, »added the woman, who was wearing a hat with the union emblem.

• Last month, the unions rejected the latest offer from the provincial government of François Legault: a salary increase of 10.3% in five years and a bonus of 1,000 Canadian dollars (nearly $730) per civil servant. The proposal was deemed “insulting” by the unions.