(Montreal) The indefinite general strike, which took place since 1er December in the CPEs, is officially over. The 11,000 union members of the CSN adopted the agreement in principle by 93%.
“It was not an easy negotiation, but we managed to make several advances thanks to the solidarity and determination of our members,” said in a press release Stéphanie Vachon, representative of the childcare sector at the FSSS – CSN , who qualifies this negotiation as “historic”.
Qualified educators and specialized educators obtained a salary catch-up of 18%. In addition, support staff, including administration, kitchens and housekeeping, increased from 8% to 12.5%. The government initially offered 6%, the CSN said.
The new collective agreement will also provide for the addition of three hours dedicated to the preparation of the child’s file and eight hours granted to food managers for the management of the kitchen.
They will also get two additional holidays. A committee, whose mandate is to identify the main difficulties experienced by educators in the integration of children with special needs, will also be set up.
“We hope that the progress made thanks to our fighting spirit will ensure the sustainability of the network and convince the workers to stay there,” said Lucie Longchamps, vice-president of the FSSS-CSN, in a press release.
“The question of the ratios of children per educator remains open, but Minister Lacombe has said he is ready to work with us to find a solution to this problem. We will therefore continue to lead this fight on another ground in order to obtain satisfaction, ”she added.
The four organizations that represent workers in early childhood centers, namely the FSSS-CSN, the FIPEQ-CSQ, the SQEES-FTQ and the Métallos-FTQ, all had an agreement with Quebec, on Wednesday, one after another.
The Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux initially announced the return to work on Monday, although members had not yet spoken on the agreement, before modifying the message to indicate that the return would ultimately depend on the outcome of the vote. , which is now done.
Relief from the opposition
The opposition parties said they were relieved by this agreement. “We therefore owe a debt of gratitude to the mobilization of early childhood workers who have gone to the end of their convictions for their working conditions, but also for the future of a network that the government must stop neglecting”, a declared Véronique Hivon, spokesperson for the Parti Québécois in family matters.
For her part, Christine Labrie, spokesperson for Quebec solidaire in matters of education and family, said she was relieved that common ground had been found. “I hope that this will make it possible to retain the educators and to consolidate and develop the network. She specifies, however, that several issues have not been resolved, such as respecting the ratios per educator. “I will continue to work on this file,” she said.
With The Canadian Press