Representatives of the unions affiliated to the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) have gathered since this morning to examine the overall settlement proposal made the day before with the government.
The proceedings could last until the end of the afternoon, or even until the beginning of the evening, the FAE indicated on Thursday.
If the representatives endorse it, it could then be qualified as an agreement in principle, which would put an end to the pressure tactics undertaken by the FAE since the start of negotiations, including the indefinite general strike launched on November 23.
This agreement will then be recommended to the members of the FAE, who will be called upon to ratify it during their general meetings upon returning from the holiday vacations.
The FAE, which brings together 66,500 teachers, resumed negotiations with Quebec on Tuesday, after a 24-hour break.
On December 21, FAE members unanimously voted for the proposal to enter into negotiation blitz, provided that union proposals can be discussed.
The Common Front still in negotiations
Meanwhile, negotiations continue at the so-called “central” table where the Common Front is negotiating the salary aspects of the next employment contract for public sector employees on behalf of the four federations it represents (CSN, CSQ, FTQ, APTS ).
All the member unions of these federations have reached agreements with the government in recent days at so-called “sectoral” tables, where the working conditions specific to each trade are negotiated.
The Common Front recently recalled that without a satisfactory agreement by the end of the year at the central table, its 420,000 members could trigger an unlimited general strike in 2024.
No recommendation from the FSE
Responding to the assertions of the former president of the FAE, Sylvain Malette, that the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ) did not recommend the agreement it had concluded with the government on December 23, the union announced on Thursday that it had no longer done this since the last negotiation in which it took part, in 2020.
“Following the 2015 negotiations, the FSE reviewed its ways of doing things and is not making any recommendations to its members,” indicated its spokesperson, Sylvie Lemieux. “We are not talking about an agreement in principle, but a proposed regulation precisely to leave it to the members to decide. It’s a question of internal functioning. »
The delegates of the FSE, which represents 60% of teachers in Quebec, had ratified on December 23 the draft regulation which had been presented to them, the result of a blitz of negotiations between the federation and the government.
In interview with The PressOn Tuesday, the former president of the FAE, Sylvain Malette, affirmed that the FSE did not recommend that its members vote in favor of this agreement since it was “disappointing”, according to him.