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The CSN, CSQ, APTS and FTQ, which form the Common Front of public sector unions, have been meeting separately since 9 or 10 a.m. on Tuesday, to take stock of negotiations with Quebec and decide on if they want to continue with the strike mandate they already have.

So far, the Common Front has held one strike day, then three in a row, then seven. It had already warned that the latest seven-day sequence, from Dec. 8 to 14, would be the last before it would exercise unlimited strike action.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the unions, which together represent 420,000 workers in the education and health-care networks, will decide on the date the indefinite strike would begin.

They have said it will all depend on the progress of negotiations to renew collective agreements, both at the intersectoral level — wages, pension plans, regional disparities — and at the sectoral level — organization of working time, workload, and class composition, for example.

In fact, the four union groups that are meeting Tuesday are discussing the progress, or lack of progress, in sectoral and intersectoral negotiations all day long.