The indefinite general strike which is stretching out is beginning to weigh on the morale of anxious and frustrated parents, but also of teachers affiliated with the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE), who believe that everyone has paid enough of the cost. the strike and who are demanding a return to class.
Josée Lusignan, who teaches in a Laval school whose staff is affiliated with the FAE, is not “pro-school management”, and she has already been a union delegate. But she wonders if her federation was not too ambitious in its decision to launch an unlimited general strike on November 23, without gradation in the means of pressure.
“I think we went too hard, too quickly,” she says. “Although I am in favor of the fight that is being waged, I do not think that we are using the right method. I would end the strike. » She is the only teacher on an indefinite general strike for the return to class who agreed to speak openly to the Dutybecause she has “a tough skin” and, as she “pays the same union dues as everyone else”, she therefore has “the same right to speak as everyone else”.
Even if she admits that the strike is hard on her finances, it is especially for students with disabilities or those with adjustment or learning difficulties that she wants a return to class. Her own children have not been going to school for several weeks because of the strike, and she sees the consequences every day. “My children have diagnoses, some more serious than others,” she says. They need the secure framework of school routine. »
As a teacher, she also admits to experiencing all the inconveniences denounced by the profession. “I would like a better school and for things to be better. But that is not possible. I prefer to have my children at school and my students with me to try to go a part of the way, while waiting for those above us to decide to talk. »
Julien, a teacher in Outaouais who wants to remain anonymous “because it’s delicate”, and who is in agreement with the demands of the movement, would also have liked a more gradual approach, like that of the Common Front, for example, which is doing strike footage and is now threatening an indefinite general strike.
After three weeks, it is time to return to class, because “everyone is penalized,” he believes. “I think it is slowly losing steam, and the strike is having less effect, it has become ineffective. And we don’t have messages of hope that things will be resolved, it changes every day. I think you have to change your strategy when it doesn’t work. »
He notes “a dynamic of chicanery” between the FAE and the government. “What I want to hear is that we are on the verge of an agreement,” he says. There are lots of people who don’t get paid, and that doesn’t make sense. » “We might be due for a little vote on whether we continue the strike or not,” he says.
Social pediatrician Gilles Julien believes, for his part, that teachers deserve to be “valued” and to obtain an “adequate salary”. But he also believes that children have the right to continuous education. ” Yesterday [mercredi], I asked a little girl of 12 or 13: “What’s wrong?” She said: “It’s boring. I do not know what to do. I don’t see any friends. I do not go out.” It’s like we’re leaving children to their own devices, with their problems escalating because no one has a solution. »
Anxiety and frustration
Anxiety is beginning to rise among teachers on strike, and parents are feeling the weight of the accumulating weeks and are struggling to cope with the vague prospect of a settlement.
“There is anxiety, yes, but above all it is frustration. Nobody gives any news, it’s difficult to find information, says Valérie Chartrand, whose children attend a school that has been closed for several weeks. We are really left to our own devices. » For her, both the unions and the employers are responsible for the situation. “No one talks about additional burden on parents. Our children are at the forefront of the parental exhaustion that is setting in,” she says.
The Relief organization, which offers support to people suffering from anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder, reports receiving more requests for help in recent weeks.
Some parents, who have to look after their children at home while working, feel “overwhelmed by events”, according to its general director, Jean-Rémy Provost. “It coincides with the end of the year,” he recalls. People are usually more irritable, stressed and tired. »
The teachers’ strike adds another layer. “I think everyone tries to say to themselves, ‘I don’t blame the teachers, the nurses, or anything,’ but at the same time experiences a lot of [stress] », says Jean-Rémy Provost. Those who are “more vulnerable to experiencing anxiety and depression” contact the body to evacuate the excess. Strikers too.
According to psychologist Nicolas Chevrier, feeling “more anxious and more stressed” is “normal” in the current context of uncertainty. The 66,500 members of the FAE have launched an indefinite general strike. The return to class date is unknown in the regions where these union members teach.
He advises parents to “readjust their expectations.” “Maybe the kids are going to watch TV all afternoon on Thursday because I need to work, and that’s going to be okay because that’s how it is right now. »
Nicolas Chevrier points out that stress and loss of control can lead to irritability and even anger. He recommends that parents who feel this way retreat to their room, listen to music or go for a walk, if possible.
“We know that irritability, anger, mood swings can have a significant impact on children,” he says.