(Montreal) It was in the middle of the night that Montreal teachers, members of the largest union affiliated with the Fédération Autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), accepted by 52% the agreement in principle concluded with the government of Quebec. A few hours earlier, those in Laval rejected it.
The virtual general assembly to which the 9,700 members of the Montreal Teachers’ Alliance were invited was long and emotional. At around 2 a.m., on the night of Thursday to Friday, after nearly nine hours of meeting, the members decided and accepted by 52% the agreement concluded by their union with Quebec.
The participation rate was not revealed by the union, but more than 3,000 teachers exercised their right to vote in the dead of night.
“At 1:53 a.m. today, the CAQ won,” wrote a teacher to The Press. “I am disappointed in my colleagues,” he adds.
“If this is what we managed to obtain after a 22-day strike, I do not believe that we would have had more by repeating small pressure tactics after a refusal,” wrote another teacher.
In a press release, the Teachers’ Alliance indicated that the agreement in principle will not “resolve all the problems in the education network”.
“Teachers still believe that they and their students deserve better,” declares Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, president of this union.
In Laval, on Thursday, teachers decided otherwise: members of the Laval Region Education Union (SERL) rejected the agreement in principle by 68%. The SERL is therefore the first union affiliated with the FAE to speak out against the agreement.
More votes to come
The Autonomous Federation of Education 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.
For the agreement in principle signed by the FAE to be ratified, it must be accepted by a double majority, i.e. 50% of the members and 50% of the unions, therefore by 5 of the 9 affiliated unions, but also 50% +1 of the total members.
So far, three unions have voted: in addition to the members of the Teachers’ Alliance, who accepted the agreement, those of the Syndicat de l’enseignement de la Pointe-de-l’Île (SEPÎ), in Montreal, were 58.5% in favor. This union represents 4,384 teachers at the Pointe-de-l’Île School Service Center, in the east of the metropolis.