(Quebec) “Things are not going well at the tables [de négociation], we are not moving forward. » The president of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), Mélanie Hubert, whose members are leading an indefinite general strike, wants Quebec to intensify talks to reach an agreement before Christmas. To achieve this, the government must back down on its request to negotiate at national tables a new process for assigning teachers, which leads every summer to a race against time to find a teacher per class in time for the start of the school year.
At a press briefing on Wednesday in Quebec, while a delegation of some 65,500 teachers on strike demonstrated in front of Parliament, Mme Hubert machine-gunned the government’s demands one by one, particularly attacking the attitude of school service centers which, according to her, demonstrate unspeakable rigidity.
“It’s not the union that’s rigid. The teachers we represent judge that the solutions [proposées]especially on assignments, will take them back 30 years,” she said.
Prime Minister François Legault affirmed last week that he was ready to improve the salary offer if the unions relaxed the rules for organizing work. For teachers, this involves, among other things, a complete review of the teacher assignment process. However, these ways of doing things are historically negotiated between school service centers and local unions, rather than at national negotiation tables.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Melanie Hubert
“To think that we will succeed in including this in an agreement before the holidays is absolutely unrealistic and honestly irresponsible when we consider that there are currently 66,500 teachers in the streets and that there are half -million students who do not go to school,” said Mme Hubert.
According to her, reviewing the assignment process to avoid a new round at the end of the summer is unrealistic and would place teachers at the start of their careers, who do not have tenure, in an even more precarious situation.
“The real psychodrama of the start of the school year is to see that year after year, the system loses a significant proportion of qualified people, of competent people, and that we lose them because we did not know how to take care of them,” said M.me Hubert.
Hurry up
While the impasse continues at the negotiating tables, the president of the FAE did not explain why the union had not requested the presence of a conciliator, as the common front demanded and obtained. “If we see that we are at an impasse, we will have to change our strategy,” she said.
In any case, the FAE believes that an agreement is needed by the holidays and says it is ready to participate in a blitz of negotiations to achieve it.
“I can’t believe this won’t be fixed by Christmas. We have people in the street. There are half a million students who do not go to school. It has to be settled before Christmas and the aim of taking to the streets was that. We can’t keep going in circles,” she said.
“What we would also like is for the government to understand that there will be no magic solutions that will give results in the next six months. The network has been deteriorating for 20 years. It’s probably going to take that long, two, three, four rounds of negotiations, to really catch up on everything that’s been lost over time,” added Mr.me Hubert.
More specialized classes
Furthermore, the FAE is calling for the opening of new specialized classes in order to offer appropriate educational services for children with special needs. However, the school network is facing a growing shortage of teachers and professionals.
Mélanie Hubert recognizes that more teachers will be needed to open these new classes, but she believes that we must work at it for the next five years in order to balance the composition of so-called ordinary classes and provide a better quality of work. to teachers.
“If we balanced the groups better and were able to place students in the class that is adapted to their needs, the teacher in the regular class would no longer be exhausted. He will end his year on his two feet in the classroom with students. That has to be factored into the equation. Requests for disability compensation have continued to increase in recent years,” said Mr.me Hubert.
In its latest offer, the government offered a 10.3% salary increase over five years, in addition to a lump sum of $1,000 in the first year. Added to this is a sum equivalent to 3% reserved for “government priorities”, which means that the government presents its offer as worth 14.8% over five years. The unions rejected this offer, calling it “derisory”. They did not make a counter-offer, which is also what Quebec is demanding. On Tuesday, the common front announced that its 420,000 members were adding seven new days of strike, from December 8 to 14. The next step would be an indefinite general strike in 2024.