Common union front | New days of strike in sight

Meanwhile, the hundreds of thousands of students whose teachers are represented by the FAE began a second week without school on Monday.

The common union front will move to a new stage of its walkout sequence, despite the intervention of a conciliator. Its 420,000 members will hold further strike days, which could begin at the end of next week.

The leaders of the CSN, FTQ, CSQ and APTS will make the announcement at 11 a.m. this Tuesday in Montreal. The common front has the mandate to ultimately resort to an unlimited general strike, but there would be no question of imitating the 66,000 teachers of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) for the moment. We are instead talking at this stage of a few consecutive days of strike starting at the end of next week or at the beginning of the next. The law provides that a strike notice must be sent seven working days before a walkout.

The common front has held four days of strike so far; a first day on November 6, then three consecutive days from November 21 to 23.

At the request of the unions, the Legault government announced last week the appointment of a conciliator in the hope of reaching a negotiated agreement. The common front considers that conciliation has made it possible to advance discussions, but that we are still far from seeing common ground on the horizon.

A second week without school for 500,000 students

For approximately 500,000 students in the province, a second week without school began on Monday. If negotiations continue in Quebec, it is still difficult to predict how much longer schools will be closed. Among parents, we find the situation “worrying”.

Tuesday will be the sixth day without school for these hundreds of thousands of students spread across 12 school service centers in Montreal, Laval, Quebec, but also in Estrie, the Laurentians, Outaouais and Montérégie. Their teachers are represented by the FAE and are on an indefinite general strike.

President of the Regroupement des committees de parents nationaux du Québec (RCPAQ), Sylvain Martel observes that despite the fact that there are 983 schools currently closed, we do not feel “an eagerness” to resolve.

“I have the impression that schools will remain closed all week again,” said Mr. Martel. “I am a little discouraged by the pace of these negotiations,” adds the man who represents around 200,000 parents, including those in Montreal and Laval.

“Let’s imagine another circumstance where there are 900 schools closed, we would be in panic mode to reopen them as quickly as possible. It’s a negotiation: there are people who have the keys in hand to reopen these schools,” says Mr. Martel, who adds that the solution is at the negotiating tables.

At the FAE, it was indicated on Monday that negotiations were continuing in Quebec.

“We have to go back to school before Christmas”

Not all students in the province are at home. Since Friday, service centers whose teachers are affiliated with the Federation of Education Unions (FSE) have reopened their schools.

But since there are two teachers’ unions, there are two ways to handle this labor dispute with the government. On the side of the Common Front, to which the FSE teachers belong, we observed three days of strike last week. No other days are planned at this time.

Parents sometimes get lost. On the Facebook page of the Montreal school service center (CSSDM), we ask the question: are the schools open, or not?

A reminder will be sent to parents this Tuesday, says the CSSDM.

“We planned to do a recall tomorrow, because we first wanted to leave room for negotiations over the weekend to reassess the situation. We will send the reminder based on the current context. We will also keep parents informed of developments as soon as they become known,” writes its spokesperson, Alain Perron.

Is the Federation of School Service Centers, which represents 61 CSSs, concerned about inequity between different schools? This federation did not want to grant us an interview on this subject because it represents employers.

“We have chosen to leave room for negotiation and to trust the various parties so that everything will take place under the best conditions,” we were told.

Some Quebec students experienced schools closed for three days last week, while others will likely be without school for at least two weeks. “It’s worrying,” said Sylvain Martel.

While waiting for a possible outcome in the negotiations, the parents are organizing themselves as best they can. The grandparents, who came to the rescue in large numbers last week, are not a miracle solution.

“There are small networks of parents that have been created, but even there, there are inequities: it is easier to do in the suburbs, or even in Montreal or Quebec. I have a colleague who lives in a village of 300 people: yes, they help each other, but you reach the end of the people who can help you,” illustrates Sylvain Martel.

“We have to go back to school before Christmas,” adds the president of the RCPAQ. “Not returning to class before the holidays would be irreparable for many children’s school year,” he concludes.

– With Alice Girard-Bossé, The Pressand The Canadian Press