This is the end of the indefinite strike by the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), which announced Thursday evening that it had reached an agreement in principle with the Legault government. The Common Front, which represents 420,000 public sector workers, has reached a proposed agreement.
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The nine unions forming the FAE agreed Thursday that the overall settlement proposal concluded Wednesday with Quebec did indeed constitute an agreement in principle.
Therefore, delegates voted to end the indefinite general strike that paralyzed tens of thousands of students at 12 school service centers for 22 days.
The content of the agreement has not been revealed at this time. The union group nevertheless judges that this proposal “contains particularities which respond to the negotiating priorities identified by the members”.
The final step will be to present it to its 66,500 members, whose unions will meet in a general assembly after the holidays. “It is up to teachers to respond to François Legault’s government and to say whether they feel they have been heard,” warns the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert.
Agreement with the Common Front
Things are also unblocking on the side of the Common Front, which announced Thursday that it had reached a proposed settlement with the government on the question of salaries.
At the central table, its objectives were to protect its 420,000 members from the effects of inflation and a general catch-up in salaries, explain the spokespersons for the four union organizations that make it up in a press release.
For the office of the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, the five-year agreement takes into account an improvement in the working conditions of state employees, but also greater “flexibility » in the organization of work.
However, the details of the proposals remain confidential for the moment. The trade union organizations will convene their delegations in the coming days to present the content to them. Subsequently, members will be asked to ratify the agreement in principle at a general meeting.
The strike dismissed
The Common Front threatened an unlimited general strike if no agreement was reached at the start of the year.
“It would be very surprising if we were on an unlimited general strike in January. […] As a general rule, the unions ratify the agreements of the prince,” says Jacques Létourneau, who was president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) from 2012 to 2021.
The ex-unionist says he is “almost certain” that the Common Front has made gains both in terms of maintaining purchasing power and in terms of salary catch-up.
The final agreement will apply to 300 types of jobs in the fields of education and health, he recalls.
“I can’t wait to see, but salary is definitely going to be the big issue, it’s the crux of the matter,” says Régis Boulianne, a school plumber affiliated with the CSN.
Feverness
Teachers affiliated with the FAE are excited about the idea of returning to class. “We hope that the services correspond to what we asked for, that we will have the famous classroom aids,” reacted Michel Pellerin, a teacher for 30 years in Montreal and affiliated with the FAE.
With 10% of the school year lost, Ismaël Seck dreads the catching up to do. “It’s going to be difficult, my students are having a lot of difficulty, even without losing school days. We are going to experience a new start to the school year,” underlines the special education teacher for five years.