Negotiations with the public service | Proposed settlement between the FAE and the government

That’s it. The Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) confirmed on Wednesday evening that it had succeeded in establishing a global settlement proposal with the government.

The FAE will present this proposal on Thursday to the nine affiliated member unions during a Federal Negotiating Council. “This body will decide whether the proposal can be qualified as an agreement in principle,” we can read in a press release.

If qualified as an agreement in principle, the proposal will put an end to the indefinite general strike which has been in force since November 23, the FAE confirmed to The Press. This agreement will then be recommended to the members of the FAE who will have to ratify it during their general meetings upon returning from the holiday vacations.

“We will leave it to our authority to determine whether this is an agreement in principle that meets the pressing needs of teachers and their students. The 66,500 members of the FAE have just spent 22 days in the streets, without pay, to make themselves heard. We will respect our democratic processes before speaking out further,” said FAE President Mélanie Hubert in a press release.

The FAE, which brings together 66,500 teachers, resumed negotiations with Quebec on Tuesday. This restart followed a 24-hour break in negotiations.

On December 21, FAE members unanimously voted for the proposal to enter into negotiation blitz, provided that union proposals can be discussed.

“The teachers did not go on strike for 22 days to allow the conditions of an agreement to be dictated to them,” the Federation wrote on December 22 on the social network X.

In a press release, the same day, the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, affirmed that “the government refuses[ait] always to hear several of the union proposals which would respond to the crying needs of teachers and their students, young people and adults.” “The management side is seeking to restrict the subjects to enter into a blitz,” she added.

Just before Christmas, professors affiliated with the FAE blocked the port of Montreal. Last Friday, a citizen rally in support of teachers also took place in front of the offices of Prime Minister François Legault, on Sherbrooke Street, in Montreal.

A final agreement for the Common Front unions

Furthermore, all unions linked to the Common Front now have a tentative settlement regarding their working conditions. Negotiations between Quebec and the Common Front will now focus on issues such as wages, as the last union affiliated with it reached a tentative settlement last night on its working conditions.

The last union of the Quebec Federation of Workers (FTQ) reached an agreement at its sectoral table with the Quebec government in the middle of the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Negotiations between the Inter-Union Common Front and Quebec were therefore to continue on Wednesday at the central table. They are now focusing on issues of salary and retirement, in particular.

This new settlement hypothesis concludes the cycle of negotiations of the eight sectoral tables of the FTQ, the union federation announced online Wednesday morning.

This means that all unions affiliated with the FTQ have an agreement. This was already the case for those of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS). These four groups form the Common Front which negotiates jointly with Quebec.

This latest agreement from an FTQ union was reached at 1:03 a.m. on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. It focused on sectoral issues relating to working conditions with the Employer Negotiating Committee for French-speaking school service centers.

The Union of Professionals of Laval–Rive-Nord (SPPLRN) represents education professionals belonging to 33 employment groups (nutritionists, remedial teachers, psychologists, social workers, guidance counselors, etc.). They work with 137,000 students spread across 235 schools in the Affluents, Laval and Mille-Îles school service centers.

A series of agreements before Christmas

A series of agreements at the sectoral tables of the various Common Front unions were announced on Saturday and Sunday following intensive negotiations. The talks were suspended on December 25 to allow all parties involved to celebrate Christmas.

All these settlement hypotheses will be presented to the delegates of their bodies shortly.

On December 23, the Common Front nevertheless recalled that without a satisfactory agreement by the end of the year – particularly at the central table – its 420,000 members could trigger an unlimited general strike in 2024.

The FIQ also at the negotiating tables

The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ) also resumed its negotiations with Quebec on Tuesday, the union confirmed to The Press.

The FIQ represents 80,000 members, mainly nurses. On December 19, a conciliator joined the negotiations at the request of the union, “faced with the slowness of the table and the total lack of openness to compromise on the part of the government”.

Last week, the FIQ delegates decided to give conciliation a “chance”, after a meeting of the extraordinary federal council, reported The duty. They said they were ready to negotiate throughout the holiday season.

FIQ members also voted in favor of an indefinite general strike, but no date has been determined for its start.

With the collaboration of Tommy Chouinard and Sara Champagne, The Press