The ports of Montreal and Quebec were blocked Thursday morning by hundreds of teachers who are members of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), who resorted to a show-off to make themselves heard.
Dozens of striking teachers gathered to block the entrance to the Port of Montreal, at the corner of rue de Boucherville and rue Notre-Dame, in order to send a clear message to the government. This mobilization blocks access to trucks.
“That’s enough ! Teachers are tired, angry and exasperated to make an economic sacrifice out of their own pocket to save public schools,” said FAE vice-president Patrick Bydale.
On Wednesday, the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) rejected the government’s offer. “We are here because the only language the government understands is money. The teachers are angry, they are exasperated, they have a message to send to Mr. Legault. The boat he is leading us to is rocking. It is time for him to take responsibility and unblock himself at the negotiating tables,” he said.
After 21 days of “economic sacrifice”, teachers are mobilizing so that the government “takes responsibility”, he notes.
A desire to “disturb”
In the Old Capital, the event was enough to create a certain friction between the teachers who refused to move on Boulevard Henri-Bourassa and the truckers who had to go to the port.
“Hey move tabarnak!” or “You have no business there, criss”, shouted the disgruntled workers through the noise of the horns.
The Autonomous Education Federation blocked the port of Quebec on Thursday, December 21, 2023, for a period of approximately 1 hour, fueling the anger of truckers who had to go there.
Jeremy Bernier
“Everything we did until now didn’t work. We are happy to have been able to disturb today, it went well,” assures teacher Josée Arsenault.
This highlights that each FAE teacher has been without pay for four weeks, a loss of $9,000 to $10,000. Truckers “can wait an hour,” she said.
Jeremy Bernier
“We are trying to save public schools. The idea is to make Mr. Legault lose support [dans ce conflit]», Explains Hubert Nadeau, another teacher, indicating that it is possible that other similar events will occur in the future.
Around 8 a.m., the situation was back to normal.