Prime Minister François Legault asked teachers unions Friday morning to “stop the strike,” a statement that pressure groups interpreted as “emotional blackmail” and “contempt.” The Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) also ignored Mr. Legault’s message and announced Friday evening the continuation of its indefinite general strike. However, she is in the process of developing a counter-offer which she will “submit as soon as possible”.
“We had to analyze a proposal submitted by the government,” said the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, at a press conference, at the end of a meeting which began Thursday. “The government has proposed certain advances […] which seem interesting to us”, particularly on the composition of the class, she added, but nothing satisfactory to the point that the union suspends the strike.
Enough is enough contempt for teachers who stand up for quality teaching conditions for Quebec students
The possibility of allowing teachers to telework during educational days remains a point of friction with the government, according to the president. “We have had discussions around salary scales too, so we think we will be able to continue to go a long way. »
“The time spent over the past two days has been spent working on the text of a counter-offer,” said Mr.me Hubert, who assures that this proposal “will not be one-way”. She invited the management side to negotiate intensively throughout the weekend “to try to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”
Mme Hubert also described the outing made by François Legault on Friday morning as “deplorable”. The Prime Minister called on teachers’ unions to end the walkout because ” [c]What is happening now is bad for our children.” “I call on the teachers’ unions to stop the strike for the sake of our children. »
What is happening now is bad for our children. I call on the teachers unions to stop the strike for the sake of our children.
Mr. Legault, however, ruled out the idea of imposing a special law. “We’re not there,” he said. He repeated that the government was ready to review its salary offer, subject to “flexibility” on the part of the unions.
“We can’t hurt our children. It’s the most precious thing we have, he stressed. I am ready to do anything — there is nothing more important than our children — so we must stop this strike, it will harm the success of our children. »
The Prime Minister recalled that his government is proposing to add classroom aids to give teachers a helping hand. The latter are calling, “rightly”, according to Mr. Legault, for a reduction in class size. However, this remains impossible in a context of labor shortage, he argued.
“There has already been the pandemic, so we have to stop that. Please, I ask all teachers unions to stop the strike,” he repeated.
“Emotional blackmail”
The FAE responded to François Legault through social media. “Mr. Legault, FAE teachers reject emotional blackmail. What hurts public schools is the deterioration of the system, which has been exacerbated since you have been in power,” she wrote on the X platform.
The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) indicated on “These statements of [premier ministre] don’t help at all,” she added.
“Enough is enough contempt for teachers who stand up for quality teaching conditions for students in Quebec,” also replied the president of the Alliance of Teachers of Montreal, Catherine. Beauvais-St-Pierre. “People are not fooled and know that our children are suffering from the government’s lack of willingness to invest in them. We will return to class with our students when the government commits to applying a remedy to the ills of public schools. »
Mr. Legault, FAE teachers reject emotional blackmail. What hurts public schools is the deterioration of the system, which has been exacerbated since you have been in power.
The president of the Federation of Education Unions, Josée Scalabrini, declared in writing that the “Prime Minister is trying to make teachers who are mobilized to improve their working conditions feel guilty.” She accuses Mr. Legault of “adding fuel to the fire” and asks him to “give clear mandates to his negotiators” in order to offer better working conditions to teachers, “because these are also the conditions student learning”.
Many students in Quebec have been on forced leave since November 21. The Common Front, which includes teachers and school support employees (daycare educators, secretaries, etc.), walked off the job from November 21 to 23. Earlier this week, the group announced new strike days from December 8 to 14.
The FAE, which has 66,500 teachers, launched an indefinite general strike on November 23. She did not call on a conciliator, unlike the Common Front unions (CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS).
Schools whose teachers are affiliated with the FAE have been closed since November 21. They are located in various regions: Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, Basses-Laurentides, Estrie, Outaouais and Quebec.
No bonuses for everyone
On nurses, the prime minister said requiring bonuses for all workers was a bad management decision.
“The union tells us: if you give [des primes], we must give them wall to wall, even in places where we do not have a recruitment problem. That doesn’t make any sense! We must return to the basics of good management,” he maintained.
The 80,000 members of the FIQ will strike from December 11 to 14. In a press release released Thursday, the union made up mainly of nurses recalls that bonuses already exist in the collective agreement. He is demanding from Quebec that the salary of healthcare professionals who work on weekends be increased by 50% compared to the normal rate. “It’s the government that is blocking it,” writes the FIQ.
Its president, Julie Bouchard, maintains in the press release that there is “progress at the negotiating table” and “openness on both sides”.