Visibly torn, the members of the Western Montreal Education Union (SEOM) voted 51% in favor of the agreement in principle reached between the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) and the Quebec government .
Among the teachers employed by the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center who expressed their voice Tuesday during a virtual meeting, a little more than half said they were in favor of the agreement. According to what has been learned The Pressonly 76 votes separated the two camps, with a majority of 1,374 members wanting to see it accepted.
According to information circulating on social networks following the vote, 73% of members also voted in favor of “rallying”. This therefore means that if the majority of unions affiliated with the FAE had voted for the agreement, but the SEOM opposed, the latter would have joined the majority.
This vote makes the SEOM the fourth union affiliated with the FAE, out of nine, to accept the agreement reached after 22 days of strike. Among the other unions having spoken out in favor of the agreement, we include the Alliance of Professors of Montreal and those of teachers of Pointe-de-l’Île and Outaouais.
The Alliance’s vote had also revealed a strong division within its members: the largest union affiliated with the FAE had accepted the agreement in the middle of the night, by 52%, at the end of a meeting of many hours.
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 votes and 50% of the affiliated unions. In the event that another group accepts it, this second majority would be reached.
Laval still goes it alone
For the moment, only the Laval region education union has spoken out against the agreement. Its members, however, served Quebec with an unequivocal rejection: no less than 68% of them felt that it did not respond to their requests.
Among the unions which have still not expressed themselves, the board of directors of the Syndicat de l’enseignement de la Haute-Yamaska however recommended to its members to reject the agreement due to the government’s “apparent contempt” for teachers. . The Pointe-de-l’Île Education Union did the same, but its members did not comply.
As a reminder, the agreement in principle provides for average salary increases of 21.5%. However, many teachers felt that it did not meet their demands regarding the composition of the class, a point on which negotiations have long failed.
No less than 72,000 students attend one of the 123 establishments of the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center. The West Montreal Teaching Union, for its part, represents some 7,266 teachers, making it the second largest union affiliated with the FAE.
With the collaboration of Marie-Eve Morasse, The Press