The Federation of Education Unions (FSE) and the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (APEQ) on the English side, together represent some 103,000 teachers. They approved a proposed regulation made by the Quebec government on Friday. This is a significant step forward in the negotiations, but it does not mean the end of strikes. Here are five questions to take stock.
What are the terms of the agreement?
“We worked on the sector, [c’est-à-dire] working conditions,” explained the president of the FSE, Josée Scalabrini, on Friday evening in a video published on Facebook. “Everything related to salary, parental leave insurance, regional disparities, this has not been resolved. We will have to wait to have these results, as a common front.”
It is indeed the inter-union Common Front which negotiates salary issues at the so-called “central” table, while agreements on working conditions, including the proposed regulation endorsed by the FSE, occur at the so-called “sectoral” tables.
The details of Friday’s agreement were not revealed by the FSE, so that the unions could communicate them to their members directly, “after the holidays”. “We are moving forward” on three elements: “the composition of the class, the reduction of the task and the remuneration”, nevertheless declared Mme Salabrini Friday, by press release.
What’s more, the unions’ strategy of waiting until after the holidays before revealing more details is not unanimous. Under the video of Mme Salabirni, on Facebook, dozens of Internet users, including members of the FSE, expressed their dissatisfaction. “No common sense in making us wait until we return in January to let us know the details of an agreement that belongs to us! “, said teacher Mario Roy.
Can we talk about an agreement in principle?
Everything indicates that this is an agreement in principle, although the FSE does not use this name. This means that the “regulation proposal” was proposed to the unions, then accepted by the delegates of the FSE federal council.
The agreement is obviously not yet in force, since it must be adopted by the presidents of the 34 affiliated unions in the coming weeks. In his video, Mme Scalabirni showed signs of hope: “The steps we have taken allow us to think that we have achieved our objectives.”
Which teachers are affected?
The FSE represents 60% of Quebec teachers, bringing together 34 unions and 95,000 members across the province. Most of them work outside the major centers, since the two largest cities in Quebec are represented by the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), which is not affected by the agreement, and which has more than 65,000 members.
Most FAE members therefore work in urban areas. It is made up, among others, of the Alliance of Teachers of Montreal (APPM), the Western Education Union of Montreal (SEOM), the Laval Region Education Union (SERL) and of the Quebec Region Education Union (SERQ), which alone brings together more than 30,000 teachers.
The proposed regulation approved Friday also affects the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers, which represents teachers in English-speaking school service centers. Both the FSE and the APEQ represent staff from all sectors: preschool, primary, secondary, vocational training and general adult training.
What will happen to the strikes?
For the moment, the Common Front unions, which include the FSE and the APEQ, are no longer on strike. Remember that they have been on strike for 11 days so far, spread over three sequences. However, the Common Front is still brandishing the threat of an unlimited general strike if an agreement is not reached with the government, on the question of salaries, in particular.
In other words, teachers affiliated with the FSE can still walk out next year.
What consequences for the FAE?
Remember that the FAE has been on an indefinite general strike for a month now. On Friday, she began intensive negotiations with the government. The alliance must “evaluate the impact” of the agreement concluded with the FSE on “its own negotiations”, indicated the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, in a video published Friday on Facebook.
“The other federation has its own objectives, based on its own realities,” she added. This does not take anything away from our demands and the difficulties we are experiencing on the ground. Our demands are fair, and for the moment, the employer side […] seeks to impose its vision on us, despite all the concessions we have been able to make.”