After rejecting the offer submitted by Quebec on Tuesday, the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ) will in turn submit a counter-proposal on Wednesday morning, “with the aim of relaunching discussions in order to obtain an agreement before celebrations “. The Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) is meeting today to discuss the government offer.
“Faithful to the discussions of recent days, this one [le dépôt] is based on the priorities of teachers, namely the composition of the class and the reduction of the task,” writes the union on social networks.
The FSE-CSQ had described the new offer submitted Tuesday by Quebec as a “show of smoke and mirrors” and affirmed that it represented “major setbacks” in the negotiations. The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, for his part spoke of “significant improvements” and said that the Legault government was putting “a lot of things on the table”.
The FAE, whose teachers have been on an indefinite general strike since November 23, for its part indicated Wednesday morning that its federal negotiating council is currently meeting to discuss with its affiliated unions the offer received Tuesday. “We will keep you informed as soon as the court has ruled,” the union wrote on social networks.
The president of the CSQ, Eric Gingras, deplored during a Common Front press conference Wednesday morning that the most recent offers tabled by the government do not take into account union demands, despite signs of openness reported at the beginning of week.
“We are seeing openings on the priorities of teachers, colleagues of the Federation [FSE]. And when we arrive with a deposit that we further hammer into public opinion, in the public space, this does not even reflect the discussions of the last few days. »
The government continues to respond to union requests for adjustments in class composition by providing additional staff to help teachers.
“As for the composition of the class, I will give an example: there are requests from the federation side, we have no openness and we say that, for example, help for the class will settle everything, underlined Éric Gingras. We are still on the same bases as we denounced several weeks ago. »
Not good news
The spokesperson for the Regroupement des committees de parents nationaux du Québec (RCPAQ), Sylvain Martel, believes that the “worst scenario” is happening: students whose teachers are affiliated with the FAE are “slipping » during the holiday break without even having returned to school for a week.
“And there, this scenario of returning to class on January 8, it is starting to be lame,” continues Sylvain Martel. This is not good news. »
For students on forced leave for a month to return to classes, the FAE must reach an agreement with the government, but so does the Common Front, as support employees and daycare educators are part of the grouping of four unions.
Many parents are worried, insists Sylvain Martel. “We have never had as many messages from parents as now. Even in a pandemic, we haven’t had that many. » He fears that a phenomenon similar to the “summer slide” will occur during this long absence, that is to say that young people will lose academic skills as is the case during the summer holidays. “If school starts again on January 8, many students will have been absent for seven weeks,” he observes. Summer is eight weeks. »
With Alexandre Robillard