(Montreal) One week before the start of the school year, the Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ) is concerned that some CEGEPs are unable to offer certain services and even certain courses due to lack of staff.
Posted at 11:58 a.m.
The CSQ and its affiliated unions in the college network are asking Quebec to improve the working conditions of CEGEP staff in order to counter a staff shortage that is beginning to affect the educational mission of the establishments in the network.
The leaders of the central and its three federations representing teachers, professionals and support staff in the college sector met with the media on Monday in Montreal to express their concerns.
The attractiveness of the private sector or even the public sector leads to a lack of teachers, particularly in computer technology, industrial electronics technology, nursing care and pharmacy technology.
In some colleges, several course loads are still not distributed to teachers because there are no teachers to assume them.
In addition, union leaders point out that students who emerge from two years of the pandemic with distance learning, hybrid or other atypical methods are ill-prepared to take on what they call “the student profession” and require upgrades that represent an additional burden for staff.
Also, the lack of professionals such as educational advisers or psychologists, already crying out before the pandemic, has worsened.
We will not be surprised to hear these recriminations in the run-up to negotiations for the renewal of collective agreements in the sector. The CSQ and its federations are calling on the government to improve the working conditions and salaries of their members in order to create real attractiveness and staff retention.