Hundreds of teachers from the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) gathered Sunday evening in front of the new Maison de Radio-Canada, waiting for Sonia LeBel to appear on the show. Everybody talks about it.
“We consider that everyone is talking about launching an unlimited general strike. Butme LeBel is invited [à l’émission]we are not,” denounced Julie Bossé, vice-president of the teaching union for the Laval region, in front of the building on Avenue Papineau.
The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, will be on the show at 8 p.m. Everybody talks about it.
Flags and red tuques invaded the front of the new Maison de Radio-Canada on Sunday evening, to the sound of rattles and other trumpets. Maxime Carpentier-Cayen, sixth grade teacher in Laval for 12 years, is not surprised by this mobilization. “We are investing our non-salary, from now on! », he says, referring to the fact that FAE teachers do not have a strike fund. They are therefore now without salary.
“A lot of things are changing [dans le monde de l’éducation], and not for the best,” he believes. He cites in particular administrative management, the question of class composition and that of intervention plans. “Madame LeBel is here, so we came to say hello to her,” he emphasizes.
A vision shared by many. “We need more services, the working conditions are aberrant, for new teachers, the classes are not adapted at all, we are not listened to, it’s a big melting pot of anything ! », Lists another elementary school teacher from Laval, Sarah Dumornay.
“We are here for us, but also for the children,” says Todora Tzankova, a French teacher for adults in Montreal for 22 years. “It’s important to show how badly the network is managed,” she believes.
Convinced demonstrators
“They will be there this evening to demonstrate to Sonia LeBel and the entire population their level of conviction in relation to what they are demanding,” declared the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, in an interview with The Press earlier Sunday.
PHOTO KAROLINE BOUCHER, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel
The 66,500 FAE teachers have been on an indefinite general strike since Thursday. These teachers work in classrooms in Montreal, Laval, Quebec, Outaouais, Montérégie, Laurentides and Estrie. They represent approximately 40% of teachers in Quebec.
Representatives of the FAE are also present at the demonstration on Sunday evening. “We will be in the streets with them to proclaim loud and clear what we want and to demand that the negotiating tables speed up and that we reach a satisfactory settlement as quickly as possible,” declared Mr.me Hubert.
First full week of strike
Teachers are “very determined and enthusiastic” about their first two days of strike which took place Thursday and Friday, maintains Mme Hubert. “So, it is certain that tomorrow we will begin the first full week of strike with the determination and the conviction that what we are doing will not only serve the teachers, but will also serve the public schools,” he said. she declared.
Discussions with the government continue. “The tables were not broken. Communication with the government apparatus is there,” she says. A meeting is also planned with the management party on Sunday afternoon.
“Our members tell us that their needs are great. Their conditions have been deteriorating for a long time. They cannot continue to eliminate their requests,” she says.