School support employees | “My teenagers are hungry. And me too. »

Special education technician in a Sherbrooke secondary school, Pascale Castonguay speaks of her autistic students as her “loves”.

It’s the most rewarding job she’s ever had in her life.

But, because there is a but, by working 30 hours a week, at a salary of $24 an hour, 200 days a year, the single mother of two teenagers cannot succeed.

The state employee goes to a food bank to survive.

And she is far from the only one.

One in eight school support employees (12%) used food banks in the last year, says the Federation of Public Service Employees (FEESP-CSN), based on an internal survey.

“It’s very hard on the ego, but I have no choice, my teenagers are hungry. And me too,” says Pascale Castonguay, 51, who agrees to testify openly in the hope of making the Legault government aware of the precariousness of many school support employees.

School support staff includes social work and special education technicians, daycare educators, student supervisors, office staff who work in schools (particularly in the secretariat), janitors and cooks. in cafeterias, among others.

The worst, says M^me Castonguay is that she has improved her situation compared to last year when she was replacing in an elementary school – always with autistic children – part-time, or 24 hours a week.

“I really wish I could have worked more hours. The needs are there,” explains the woman who worked for six years in a school on an indigenous reserve before moving to Sherbrooke. However, as her seniority was not recognized, she did not have access to a class assistant position or another full-time position which could have improved her situation.

Precarious jobs

In Quebec, the average gross annual salary of a school support employee is $26,484, according to FPSS-CSQ calculations based on the latest data available from the Treasury Board.

That is explained by the fact that 60% of members are “precarious” since they do not have permanent work and work less than 26 hours per week, according to the FEESP-CSN which revealed the results of its internal survey earlier this autumn.

The unions, including the CSN and the CSQ, which represent school support employees within the Common Front are demanding salary increases, but also an improvement in their conditions such as an increase in their working hours.

Like a majority of support employees, M^me Castonguay was laid off in the summer and had to claim unemployment, hence the 200 days worked per year.

“Already, in normal times, I live from paycheck to paycheck,” describes the mother. But with the current strike, she is “scraping the bottom line”, to the point that she has started baking her own bread, in addition to participating in collective kitchens.

As the holidays approach – with the new days of strike announced by the Common Front – she does not know if there will be anything left of her “meager savings” to offer a Christmas present to her loved ones. “It risks being pots of homemade caramel for everyone,” says the resilient mother.

Her two sons, aged 14 and 15, work student jobs – one day per weekend – to pay for what they need. “My boys are so reasonable. They don’t complain. They don’t ask for anything, but they eat like ogres. They are teenagers, after all,” she says in the affectionate tone of a mother overflowing with pride for her offspring.

In the office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, we assure that we are “well aware of the precarious situation that support employees, particularly daycare educators and specialized education technicians, may experience.”

“These are issues that are discussed at the negotiating tables. Let’s think about classroom aids. Daycare educators currently have cut hours. We hope that they can work more hours, if they want, by becoming classroom assistants, specifies its director of communications, Florence Plourde. By going full-time, we’re talking about a 95% salary increase, almost double their remuneration. »

Mr. Drainville’s objective is to have classroom assistants in 15,000 primary classes, the equivalent of 4,000 full-time positions. He also wants to offer more full-time tasks for other job groups, notably specialized education technicians, his office said.

Sell ​​your car to survive

A daycare educator in an elementary school in the Quebec region, Nathalie sold her car to make ends meet.

And yet, the 53-year-old woman, who has worked with children for 25 years, “can’t do it”. She also had to resort to using a food bank recently.

The other day, at the grocery store, Nathalie, who is vegetarian, wanted to “treat herself” by buying a salad prepared on site, “nothing spectacular, a mix of lettuce with vinaigrette.” When she saw the price – $8 – her eyes watered and put it back on the display.

Nathalie nevertheless leads a frugal life: she rents a three and a half, “not heated, not lit”, for $700 per month and “cooks a lot”.

As a childcare educator, “we do much more than supervision and DIY,” emphasizes the fifty-year-old.

“We are often the trusted adult the child turns to when things are not going well at home,” she continues. I have known elementary school children who want to commit suicide. You have to listen to them, guide them. »

Nathalie – who asked that her last name be withheld out of concern for human dignity – only asks to work more. “At the daycare service, we have cut hours,” she explains. I see the needs of teachers and I would like to help. »

The educator, who spends part of her days working outside, “rain or shine”, wonders why the State does not give her an allowance for her winter clothes while for “traditionally male” professions, like those of a firefighter or police officer, uniforms are provided.

Unsustainable salary in Gatineau

An administrative technician in human resources at a school service center in Outaouais, Marie-Ève ​​earns a better salary than the other two, but she “does not achieve” more.

This single mother earns less than the viable income in Gatineau, which is $46,736 per year for an adult and a child, according to calculations by the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information. She asked us to keep her last name quiet for the same reason as Nathalie.

At the school service center, Marie-Ève ​​feels that she “makes a difference” in the lives of teachers. Except that his salary is not competitive with that of a similar position in the federal public service.

With the seven new days of the Common Front strike, from December 8 to 14 inclusive, this mother of an 8-year-old boy is thinking, “with regret,” she insists, of looking for a better-paying job.

In the meantime, the 46-year-old woman will knock on the door of a food bank. “No choice,” she says, because of inflation and all these days of strike, her modest holiday budget is rapidly disappearing.

Cases among others

The president of the FPSS-CSQ, Éric Pronovost, receives all kinds of heartbreaking testimonies from his members “hardly” affected by the rise in the standard of living; education workers whose passion is crumbling because their minimal needs are not being met. “Premier Legault repeats that he wants to help employees earning less than $52,000, but we don’t see the money on the horizon,” laments the union leader.

“Unfortunately, I am not surprised by these data concerning the economic precariousness experienced by school support employees. They are the least well paid in the education system. And they are also the ones that we too often forget. In the current negotiations with the government, we have the impression that the education network and its workers are not priorities for the CAQ government. The latter prefers to announce millions of dollars for the Kings to hold a training camp in Quebec rather than giving real mandates to its negotiating teams to improve our salary and working conditions,” deplores Annie Charland, president. of the FEESP-CSN school sector.

Education spokesperson, Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy can’t get the 12% statistic out of her head. “It breaks my heart that state employees have to resort to food banks,” she said. Impossible to remain indifferent to the stories of these women devoted to their work and their family. »

“Why doesn’t Mr. Legault take more care of his people? Quebecers who are the majority in education and nursing? asks Marie-Ève. He gives 7 million to American male millionaires [l’équipe de hockey des Kings de Los Angeles], and me, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t afford tickets. »