Delegates from a third of the unions affiliated with the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) are asking their members to reject the agreement reached with Quebec at the end of December regarding their working conditions and salaries.
The delegates of the Laval region teaching union, which has approximately 6,350 members, is the third – out of a total of nine unions affiliated with the FAE – to propose to its members to reject this agreement. The last word, however, belongs to the members, who will meet Thursday evening in a general assembly to decide on this agreement, agreed on December 29 by the FAE with the government of Quebec, putting an end to 22 days of indefinite general strike.
The Haute-Yamaska Teachers’ Union (SEHY) and the Pointe-de-l’Île Teaching Union (SEPÎ) also saw their delegates recommend to their members to reject this agreement, which provides in particular that the FAE members will benefit from the 17.4% salary increase over five years included in the proposal agreed by the Inter-Union Common Front. The 66,500 teacher members of the FAE will also be able to benefit from salary gains concluded by the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ), which negotiated an additional increase of 4%, on average, in the salary of its members during of the next five years.
Teachers and union representatives have, however, repeatedly recalled in recent weeks that improving their working conditions is among their priorities, beyond the salary issue.
In this sense, the FSE-CSQ and FAE agreements both include measures aimed at improving the composition of classes and the support given to teachers, in particular by adding thousands of class aides to the network. school. Questions persist, however, about the means that will be taken to ensure that these measures come to fruition in schools.
The FAE agreement also provides a way out for the State, if it is not able to provide sufficient support measures to teachers who manage complex classes. The document thus provides for a bonus of $4,000 to be paid to teachers whose class is made up of 60% students in difficulty. In secondary school, this bonus will be granted when 50% of students are in difficulty. The agreement also provides that if a school is not able to offer support measures to the teacher who finds themselves in this situation — for example, by giving them access to classroom assistance for support —, this single bonus jumps to $8,000.
To be considered valid, the FAE agreement must be approved by the majority of the nine unions and members. All the results of the votes of the FAE unions will also be announced simultaneously, on February 7.