The Montreal Teachers’ Alliance announced in the middle of the night on Friday that its members had adopted the agreement in principle reached last month between the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE), of which it is a part, and the government of Quebec.
On the other hand, news media reported that the members of the Laval Region Teaching Union (SERL) had rejected the agreement in principle by 68%. The SERL would therefore be the first union affiliated with the FAE to speak out against the agreement.
In a brief communication, the Alliance of Montreal Teachers did not reveal the acceptance percentage or the participation rate in the vote held at the general assembly the day before. The Alliance, however, made it known that the agreement in principle will not resolve all the problems in the education network.
The Montreal union will refrain from commenting on the content of the agreement in principle until local meetings of all unions affiliated with the FAE are held.
The Alliance of Montreal Teachers, of which nearly three-quarters of the 9,731 members are women, brings together teachers from public primary and secondary schools and adult education and vocational training centers of the Center de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM ) as well as the staff of the Peter Hall School and the Fournier Academic Center, which offer services to students with disabilities or severe learning and behavioral difficulties.
Wednesday evening, the members of the Pointe-de-l’Île Teaching Union (SEPÎ), in Montreal, voted 58.5% in favor of accepting the agreement in principle. This union represents 4,384 teachers at the Pointe-de-l’Île School Service Center, in the east of the metropolis.
Five of the nine unions affiliated with the FAE and a majority of the 66,500 members must ratify the agreement in principle for it to be accepted.
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