A hundred school support employees went Thursday noon to the offices of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to chant that without them, “the school takes the edge”.
“A good part of our staff wants to leave. It cannot be otherwise: you are exhausted, at the end of your rope, you are always overloaded with work, you are experiencing violence, ”said Annie Charland, president of the school sector of the Federation of employees and employees of public services (FEESP-CSN).
Under a radiant sun, the demonstrators denounced their working conditions by waving tambourines to the sound of pop music. For nearly an hour, they sang slogans like “Drainville, come to town” and some of them wore sweaters that read “Give us love, Bernard”.
The minister must “stop finding solutions only for teachers”, said Ms.me Charland, earlier in an interview with The duty. School support staff such as secretaries, special education technicians and janitors also need help, she said. “Mr. Drainville, listen to us,” she added.
The FEESP-CSN represents more than 35,000 school support employees who are currently negotiating with Quebec for the renewal of their collective agreement, which expired on March 31.
With a view to these negotiations, the trade union organization carried out a sounding last January – of which The duty had obtained a copy — from 7,500 school support staff. Among them, 62% said that their work is emotionally draining. Regarding physical violence from students, 35% of these workers say they have experienced it.
This is the case of a protester, Valérie Lavoie, who regularly experiences violent episodes as part of her work as a specialist educator in the Bas-Saint-Laurent. “We are talking about blows, furniture and objects that fly,” says the one who has been practicing her profession for 15 years. “We want that to change,” she says, between bites of sandwiches.
Prevent violence
In order to be able to prevent violence, special education technicians need to have more time, argues Annie Charland.
The latter is therefore demanding an increase in their number of working hours, because many of them work less than 26.15 per week, the minimum required to be considered permanent. “With no hours, what happens? They are only putting out fires and are not going to work on the student’s problem in depth, ”she laments.
Work overload and exhaustion combined with ‘uncompetitive’ pay are pushing experienced tutoring staff out of their jobs, laments Ms.me Charland. “I had a janitor who had 31 years of service. He told me: “Annie, I can’t support my family, I can’t stay on that salary”. »
Contacted by The dutythe office of the Minister of Education pointed out that “negotiations are underway to renew the collective agreements”.
“Discussions are held at the bargaining tables and working conditions are addressed there. We want to reach an agreement quickly, ”wrote Florence Plourde, press secretary for Mr. Drainville.