The Alliance of Professors of Montreal (APM) will make available a food assistance program for its members experiencing financial problems due to ongoing strikes in the public sector.
In an internal opinion, the president of the organization, Catherine Beauvais St-Pierre, says she is immediately aware that certain people that her group represents “find themselves in a difficult financial situation due to the unlimited general strike” triggered by the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE).
Thus, the approximately 9,500 members of the Alliance will all be able to receive a $100 certificate exchangeable at a grocer present in Montreal.
That said, the funds injected by the Alliance will be supported by donations from individuals and other union organizations, such as the Steelworkers, who announced Monday that they were offering a $100,000 boost to the strikers, mainly in gift cards. of groceries to help a “vast majority of women […] who keeps public services at arm’s length.
A form was posted online at the beginning of the week to qualify for this assistance. Criteria such as family context, salary level or type of employment contract must first be analyzed before offering financial assistance, said Ms.me Beauvais St-Pierre.
We sincerely hope that this help will enable those wishing to survive. We know you are determined and we must continue to be strong and united in this fight.
Catherine Beauvais St-Pierre, president of the Alliance of Montreal Teachers
This all comes as a little earlier, on Monday, the presidents of the two teachers’ unions, Josée Scalabrini and Mélanie Hubert, took stock with the media. The FAE notably welcomed “productive” discussions in a publication on social networks, in the evening, “We remain cautious, however: we will judge the tree by its fruits,” it was added.
The Federation of Education Unions (FSE), for its part, remains on guard. The group still deplores the fact that there is “no real negotiation”.
“We’ve been supposed to be in negotiations for a year and a half and we’ve always been on the outskirts. We discussed many things around, but the priorities [composition de la classe, allégement de la tâche], they always refused to talk about it. The conclusion for them is always: if there is an addition of teachers, we cannot talk about it,” said Josée Scalabrini in an interview.
In the office of the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, we had another interpretation of the situation on Monday. “Despite what is being conveyed, I assure Quebecers that the government negotiation teams are sparing no effort at the tables: discussions are taking place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, continuously, at all levels and with all unions,” we were told, adding that “union demands are still far too high to be realistic.”
With Marie-Ève Morasse, The Press