The Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), on an indefinite general strike for 20 days, rejected on Wednesday the offer made the day before by François Legault’s government, judging that it contains “significant setbacks”.
“There is no longer any doubt for us that François Legault’s government is in no way choosing to help public schools recover from the deterioration they have suffered for 20 years,” said the president of the union, Mélanie. Hubert.
Mme Hubert also deplored that the government had adopted, according to her, “a strategy of exhausting teachers, by allowing this conflict to continue”. “This is completely unacceptable and irresponsible when we consider the suffering of teachers and the impacts of the lack of quality services for students. »
In a video posted on Facebook, the union president made it known that the FAE was not “on the verge of an agreement” nor in a “blitz”, i.e. an intensification of negotiations. She at the same time argued that the offer “ignored the union demands” of the FAE and deplored a “gap between the texts and what had been said at the tables [de négociation] “.
She said she feared that the measures affecting the composition of the class – one of the main demands of the FAE – would not have “a very concrete effect”. “The opening of classes is not guaranteed by the mechanism,” she raised, for example, before deploring that adult education is “considerably absent” from the most recent government filing.
As for “personal time”, hours of work that teachers would like to be able to do at the place and time of their choice, the government is proposing a pilot project. This one, deplores Mme Hubert, however, does not affect adult education and vocational training and is subject to conditions.
“There are positive elements,” she said, “but that does not have the effect of leading to an agreement in principle. » The FAE, says Mme Hubert will not accept a “low-cost deal”.
This new submission of offers, the fourth in four weeks, “contains significant setbacks for teachers as well as for their students and does not constitute a satisfactory agreement in principle to meet the pressing needs of public schools,” said also estimated the FAE, in a press release.