FAE | The agreement in principle adopted at short notice

The last union called to vote on the agreement in principle concluded between the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) and Quebec voted in favor on Friday, thus breaking the statistical tie in favor of adoption.

The Haute-Yamaska ​​Education Union (SEHY) indicated that 2,000 members had adopted the agreement in principle in a landslide, with 50.58% in favor, at the end of a vote which took place over 48 hours.

“The FAE confirms that the agreement in principle of December 28, 2023 was accepted by the members,” indicated the federation on its Facebook page, clearing up the vagueness as to the consequences of this vote.

Indeed, due to a complex procedure for counting votes, it was still not clear on Friday whether the result of the SEHY vote meant that the national agreement negotiated with Quebec by the FAE would be adopted or not.

The FAE said it would not make any further comments. A press conference has already been announced next Monday to explain the results.

As for the result of the SEHY vote, it is important to remember that its board of directors had already recommended to its members to reject the agreement in principle concluded with Quebec, due to the government’s “apparent contempt” for teachers.

A complex procedure

Under this vote, the final count is five FAE unions for the agreement in principle and four against.

It is generally understood that the national agreement had to be accepted by a double majority, i.e. 50% of the votes and 50% of the affiliated unions, for it to be ratified. However, the procedure is more complex.

To be ratified, the agreement had to obtain a majority of “union units” and a majority of “mandates” in its favor.

First, six “union units” were allocated to each of the nine unions. Each union was free to divide them as it saw fit, for example by school service centers, if the union represented more than one. These votes were therefore not automatically attributed to the choice that won at the meeting.

Then, “mandates” were assigned to each of the unions according to the number of their members. For each union, the votes were automatically allocated to the option that won at the meeting.

Since the distribution of these units and mandates was not known to the public, it was not immediately possible to determine the consequences of Friday’s vote.

The FAE has nine affiliated unions which bring together 66,000 teachers. As part of negotiations leading to the renewal of their collective agreement, they held a 22-day strike at the end of last year.

With Alice Girard-Bossé, The Press