The Prime Minister, François Legault, believes that an agreement is very close with teachers on an indefinite general strike for a 15e daytime. A hope, however, quickly dampened by their union.
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“Negotiations with the teachers are going well, very well. We talk to each other about the heaviness of the task, about how we can add people to the classes. I’m very good. Then I have good hope that all the children will return to school as of the coming Monday,” declared François Legault on Wednesday, just before entering the Council of Ministers.
Some 65,000 teachers from the Autonomous Federation of Education are currently on an indefinite general strike, a conflict which has forced the closure of approximately 40% of Quebec schools for three weeks.
The FAE quickly rejected the Prime Minister’s claims. “Contrary to what François Legault says, the news at the table is not encouraging. The government is blowing hot and cold. He promises us an opening, only to immediately close the door. The government’s strategy is clearly to divide the movement and exhaust the teachers,” the union commented shortly after on Instagram.
“Don’t get on François Legault’s roller coaster. Stay standing, straight, proud and united,” added the FAE.
Realistic, but…
The president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, also demonstrated more moderate optimism than Mr. Legault.
An agreement with the FAE by the end of the week is “realistic”, but a lot of work remains to be done, underlines the one who is responsible for leading the negotiations for the employer side.
“So I think that the Prime Minister’s remark was in the hope that we could get there, because the real possibility that we could get there exists,” commented Mr.me LeBel.
As for the Common Front, still on strike until Thursday, Sonia LeBel believes that an agreement would be possible by Christmas.
More difficult in health
In the health sector, however, the negotiations are more complicated, deplores the Legault government.
“There is almost no openness to give us the flexibility that is absolutely necessary to improve health services. So, on that side, I think things will go better in January,” declared the Prime Minister.
Sonia LeBel recognizes that the work is more difficult with the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), whose demands she judges to be “unrealistic”.
The FIQ’s demands mean that Quebec should add “thousands and thousands of employees in the health field,” she denounces.
If the strike were to continue in the health sector, each day will lengthen the waiting lists for surgeries, recalled Minister Christian Dubé.
“We are delaying approximately 500 surgeries per day,” said the Minister of Health, recalling the delay already caused by the pandemic.
His colleague in Finance, Eric Girard, also recalls that the Quebec state is “currently in deficit”. “Anything that is put on the table that exceeds what was in the financial framework will have to be borrowed, then ultimately paid for by all taxpayers,” he recalled.
Despite these pressures, the FIQ refuses to sign a “discount agreement”. “If we want an agreement before the end of the year, it would be important for the Prime Minister to stop adding fuel to the fire,” declared his spokesperson.
The FSSS-CSN, for its part, accuses François Legault of distorting reality. “Those who are inflexible at the table are the government. They have not wanted to move one iota on their priorities for months,” says the union member of the Common Trade Union Front.