The teachers’ strike, which risks dragging out in certain regions, such as Montreal, is once again complicating parents’ daily lives. While the pandemic has called on their patience and resilience, it has nevertheless facilitated work-family balance – particularly through teleworking – and strengthened the spirit of mutual assistance between neighbors.
“We are far from the panic effect that we experienced when all the schools closed during the pandemic,” immediately affirms Kiléka Coulibaly, mother and president of the parents’ committee of the Center de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM ). “But it is certain that there is concern, mainly in terms of duration. Parents wonder: for how long will I have to find an alternative to look after the coconuts? But we see great mutual support and a lot of resilience. We do what we can with what we have. »
Those who can will have their children looked after by grandparents, neighbors, close or distant family members. Other parents organize themselves.
This is the case for families in the Centre-Sud district of Montreal, who take turns looking after each other’s children. Violaine Campo, mother of two children who is part of the group, could have organized herself, but believes that it is necessary, in the circumstances, to be “solidarity”. She has “quite a bit of flexibility” to telework and, to make matters worse, her mother is arriving on Sunday for a three-week visit. “On our side, we have a lot of flexibility, but that’s really not the case for everyone. That doesn’t stop you from helping others. »
Each in turn, therefore, the parents will take the children to the park, the library or the Book Fair — which admits children and their chaperones free of charge to compensate for the interruption of classes. The first week is organized. For the rest, parents will take it day by day. “We will already get through the first week,” confides Mme Campo laughing on the other end of the line.
“A mother recently told me that since the pandemic, there is no longer anything that stresses her,” says M.me Field. We were all traumatized by this [la pandémie], it left marks. But at the same time, we tell ourselves that we managed to get through it once, that it can’t be worse than having the children at home for months! » Like Mme Coulibaly, she believes that the pandemic has strengthened ties with neighbors, which facilitates mutual aid. “We will no longer dare to ask for help because we know that we cannot get through it otherwise. »
Social networks are also powerful vectors of solidarity and mutual aid in such situations. In groups of parents in different neighborhoods, several offer their babysitting or tutoring services — or those of their high school children who are also on leave.
Parents inquire about the best cafes in which to work with a child or ask for activity suggestions to prevent their children from spending the day in front of screens. In short, parents are increasingly using the tools at their disposal to ask for help and share their solutions.
Strike camps
To help parents out, several organizations offer day camps during the strike. “We had already done it during strikes in the past, and the parents thanked us, they were really happy,” explains Solange Leblanc, owner of Acrosport Barani, who decided to repeat the experience for the next few days. “The demand is there, people thank us. »
It is also a way to be able to offer hours to coaches and to absorb the losses caused by the cancellation of school activities during this week, she adds.
Same story at Motion Parc Evolution, in Granby, a center that is generally very busy with sports-study programs. “We had nothing on the schedule, we already had the staff and we saw that a lot of parents were failing. So we said to ourselves that we were going to open to help them,” explains the coach Jérémy Melançon. For now, there are only three days planned for the special day camp. What will happen if the strike continues? “It’s a decision that remains to be made depending on what will happen,” specifies Mr. Melançon.
In Montreal, Camp Énergie is offering a special “Strike Edition” day camp from November 21 to 23 and plans to expand its activities if the conflict continues.
More flexibility
The pandemic has also made work-life balance easier. “We inherited something positive despite the COVID years,” notes Kiléka Coulibaly, from the CSSDM parents committee. Now, in the vast majority of cases, we provide equipment to employees to enable teleworking. It helps a lot. That being said, you should be aware that not everyone can benefit from it. I want to appeal a little to the openness and understanding of employers: we are all in this together. »
Jean-Claude Bernatchez, professor of labor relations at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR), also notes progress in terms of work-family balance since the pandemic. “It has become normal to work with children at home,” he notes. He also notes greater flexibility among employers. On this point, it is above all the shortage of labor which is to blame, he specifies. “The employees know it and say: you accommodate me or I will look for another job. »
Despite everything, some parents remain, a few days before the strike begins, without options. This is the case of Rahma Bannani, who moved to Quebec with her six-year-old son just a few weeks ago. Her husband stayed in Tunisia for work. She herself has just started a job in a clinic. It is therefore impossible for her to telework or bring her son to the office. And she has no network. “We have just arrived, I don’t have many friends or mothers that I know,” she confides. I swear, it’s complicated. I feel lost. »