(Quebec) The new offer from the Legault government to teachers is still “far, far, far from living up to the expectations” of teachers, maintains the CSQ which will hold seven consecutive days of strike starting Friday like the other members of the common front.
For its part, the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE), on an unlimited general strike since November 23, has been meeting since Tuesday to decide on the proposed regulation submitted by the government.
In a short video on Facebook, the president of the CSQ Federation of Education Unions, Josée Scalabrini, provided an update on the negotiations. She confirms the receipt of an “exploratory” employer deposit from the government. Tuesday, “we had signals. We would be ready to start negotiations. “It’s far, far, far from living up to your expectations and the expectations of your representatives,” she says.
“We will stay on the lookout. We will manage to ensure that the negotiation is not based on the government’s priorities, but also on your priorities. »
If the government described its filing as exploratory, it is because it does not want the negotiation to take place in the media, according to it. “I feel like telling you that we will live up to what our Prime Minister and the President of the Treasury Board decide to do.” “If they don’t come out in the media, we won’t come out in the media. But we remain looking for an agreement that would significantly change your daily life. »
A few minutes earlier, Prime Minister François Legault reiterated that the government “made a new offer to better pay teachers” and that “in exchange, we are asking for flexibility.” “We need more flexibility in our collective agreements to be able to provide better services,” he insisted during a press scrum in parliament.
He added that his “priority is that the children return to school as quickly as possible, that we resolve the negotiations with the teachers”.
Negotiations between the government and the common union front at the central table, where salaries are discussed, resume this Wednesday after a few days of break in order to move the talks forward more quickly at the sectoral tables which concern working conditions. It was at the suggestion of the conciliator.
“We meet the common front this morning. We will have made progress on all fronts, no pun intended,” simply said the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel.