Controversial – and sometimes undeclared – tutoring offers in the middle of a strike

Without strike funds to pay their bills, teachers offer their tutoring and babysitting services, sometimes to students at their own school. The duty has listed dozens of announcements of this type on the Internet, a practice denounced by certain colleagues and parents – and which is not unanimous among the unions.

“Several of us parents have been contacted by our children’s teacher. I know she offered it kindly, but I still found that it lacked solidarity for the movement,” says a mother whose boy attends a school at the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center. For fear of reprisals, she requested anonymity before testifying about the situation.

Since receiving this message, this mother has been torn. Like many parents, she wants her child’s education not to fall behind. But she also believes that paying her son’s teacher for tutoring goes against the principle of the unlimited general strike launched by the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE). “It is “undeclared” work which risks prolonging the conflict. And which not only creates inequity between children whose families can pay for tutoring and those who cannot, but also between teachers. »

It is “undeclared” work which risks perpetuating the conflict, and which creates not only inequity between children whose families can pay for tutoring and those who cannot afford it, but also between teachers.

Advertisements offering this type of service have multiplied in recent days on social networks, noted The duty.

“I am a primary school teacher, and due to the strike, I have a lot of time at the moment! I am available to look after your children and/or tutor you. I can travel anywhere in Montreal! » indicates a teacher from the Montreal School Service Center on Facebook.

“Between my picket blocks, I would like to offer tutoring at home, but only during the strike, because my availability for the regular year is already filled,” we can read on the page of a teacher at the Center of school services of Portages-de-l’Outaouais, which invites people to share its publication.

The duty contacted teachers who publicly advertise their services to find out their prices and to find out if they offer a receipt allowing parents to deduct these fees from their taxes. Most offered us rates ranging from $25 to $40 per hour, paid in cash or by transfer, mostly without invoice.

“A lack of solidarity”

A teacher at the Patriotes School Service Center, Geneviève Gravel did not hesitate to let one of her colleagues know that she disapproves of her being a tutor during the strike. “It’s a downright lack of solidarity,” she believes. “We go to demonstrations and make our points, then in the meantime, they make a little money off our backs. And in the end, they will benefit from all the advantages that we will have paid to demonstrate. […] I find it insulting. »

A single mother with three children, she says she made arrangements with her bank to get through the strike financially. “I confronted my colleague and her response was: “well, I have to pay my bills”… I’m sacrificing myself, and I’m going to get into debt. And them, meanwhile […]they are not helping us, they are harming us,” believes Mme Gravel.

Many strikers represented by the FAE want to minimize the effects of the strike on their budget. Remember that striking teachers have no income because their unions do not have strike funds.

Clémentine Larochelle is one of the teachers who published an ad offering tutoring services. “I now find myself without salary for an indefinite period of time, even if the accounts continue to come in. So I am returning to my old loves, individual help in mathematics,” we can read in the publication that she shared in a group of citizens in the city where she lives.

The teacher mentions being on the picket line every morning since the strike began, but finding herself with free time in the afternoon during a period of financial insecurity. “We receive $50 for three hours and 30 minutes, I have a lot of colleagues who don’t know how they are going to survive, who are in total panic,” she testifies in an interview. “Before making the announcement, I spoke to my union, and I was told that it was correct, especially since I offer my services in a city other than the one where I teach. »

Before making the announcement, I spoke to my union, and I was told that it was correct, especially since I offer my services in a city other than the one where I teach

Shared unions

The message about tutoring that André Arsenault, president of the Laval section of the FAE, sent to the 7,000 strikers in the region is clear: “It’s a question of solidarity. We ask our members not to do that. »

“These are questions that have been raised. People knew about it when they voted. The clear message: do not tutor, do not babysit students either so that – precisely, our mission that we have given ourselves, to close schools, to stop school service -, so that the government is taking action,” says Mr. Arsenault.

“We understand that there are going to be families who are going to have financial difficulties. There may be teachers who will picket in the morning and try to find a job in the afternoon. Me and my wife, we are teachers: there is no salary coming in at all. It is possible that teachers decide to find another job. We understand that, and there’s no difficulty with that. »

“On the other hand, when it is tutoring given to school students, we are in a very, very gray area. Because it’s a bit as if some teachers crossed the picket lines and were going to provide the service that we decided to no longer provide,” he believes.

The president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, for her part, recalls the importance for her members to “reconcile activism and work” when they choose to take another job during the strike. “The strike is a political choice, which involves mobilizing to support the negotiating committee. It is therefore essential to participate in picketing activities and actions organized by the union.”

“Moreover, nothing prohibits a teacher, member of a union affiliated with the FAE, from doing substitute work in an establishment where the teaching staff is not on strike. There is also no restriction on a teacher holding another job during the strike. But the FAE will not embark on a witch hunt against its members. », specifies Mme Hubert.

The president of the Federation of Education Unions-CSQ, Josée Scalabrini, for her part indicated to the Duty not wanting to “play police”.

“If teachers have had the opportunity to provide support to students, neither the employer nor the union will play police,” specifies M.me Hubert, while recalling the importance of picket hours. “Outside these hours, a teacher who wants to offer her help to support students, if it is not with the employer or the employer who asked her, we cannot manage the That. »

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