(Quebec) François Legault implores the 66,000 teachers of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) to stop the strike because “we cannot hurt our children”. The Prime Minister reiterates that he is ready to improve his offer, but that he cannot meet their main request due to the shortage of personnel.
For a second consecutive day, FAE delegates are meeting this Friday to weigh their options, such as suspending the walkout underway since November 23.
This strike, “it’s bad for our children,” pleaded Mr. Legault in a clear attempt to tip the scales.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
François Legault
“We can’t hurt our children. “It’s the most precious thing we have,” he insisted.
“I’m ready to do anything. There is nothing more important than our children, so we must stop this strike. This will harm the success of our children. There has already been the pandemic. So we have to stop this. Please, I am asking all teachers unions to stop the strikes. »
François Legault noted that his message is addressed to all teaching unions. The CSQ, which is part of the common front, will be on strike from December 8 to 14 unless there is a change in the situation at the negotiating tables.
“The main issue” of the negotiations, according to him, is the unions’ request to reduce class size. “We don’t have teachers to do that,” he pleaded. “What we are offering in exchange is adding a second person to the classes. » The government’s offer provides for the addition of 15,000 aids to the class.
The funds necessary to finance these hires are found in the increase in the payroll of 3% in five years which is reserved for differentiated offers for certain categories of workers.
The government has also put on the table salary increases of 10.3% over the same period and a flat rate amount for all of $1,000 in the first year. He did not qualify his offer as final, and the Prime Minister assures us that he is ready to open his pockets further.
Asked about the use of a special law to force a return to work, François Legault limited himself to answering that “we are not there yet”. He does not rule out getting directly involved in the negotiations by calling a meeting with union leaders.
In the health sector, the government needs to modify collective agreements to have more “flexibility”, without which “we will never be able to improve services”, he insisted, deploring the attitude of the FIQ. Quebec wants to give bonuses to nurses “in certain places where we lack them”, but the union wants them to be offered everywhere, “even where we do not have a recruitment problem”. “That doesn’t make any sense. We must return to the basics of good management,” he said. He reiterated that he is “ready to improve the financial proposals.”