The end of the indefinite general strike this week seems very unlikely, says the president of the Autonomous Federation of Education. Mélanie Hubert also denounces the comments of the Prime Minister, François Legault, according to whom “it risks brewing”.
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At a press conference on Monday morning, Mme Hubert claimed that his members were “deceived” at the negotiating tables, after having made a “major concession” in favor of greater flexibility in class assignment, as demanded by the Legault government.
“To our great dismay, the management side asked us to make further progress,” summarized the president of the FAE.
According to her, barely 50% of the ground has been covered in the negotiations, despite an indefinite general strike which has lasted for 13 days.
In these circumstances, Mme Hubert doubts that there will be a return to class this week.
“It would be very, very optimistic, considering that it is already Monday and that the work must continue its course and that our body will have to judge whether it is an agreement in principle and that it is satisfactory to present it to our members,” she commented.
“But can we hope to say: we would have news this week and be able to imagine a return to class before the Christmas holidays? We want it,” added M.me Hubert.
For many parents, an end to the strike this week would be theoretical anyway: support staff in many schools are also on strike until Thursday, inclusive, as part of the Common Front’s pressure tactics.
LeBel reacts
The President of the Treasury Board sent a statement via press release. She states that “discussions are taking place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, continuously, at all levels and with all unions.”
Regarding the FAE, she assures that “important discussions have taken place with the FAE in recent days”.
“We now have on the table the essential elements to get along. Despite certain gaps, we are entering a crucial phase which will allow us to glimpse an agreement that can benefit students and teachers. We will not comment further at this time out of respect for the ongoing negotiation process,” she said.
Financial pressure
If the FAE says it is determined to continue negotiations, Mélanie Hubert recognizes that the situation is not easy for its members in the streets, without strike funds.
“There are teachers who are starting to feel the financial pressure. It’s clear, we hear it, we see it. That’s one of the things that’s difficult. Another thing we see is the cold, the wear and tear of being outside, of being wet like this morning. It’s difficult to get up every morning and come back to do that, day after day,” she illustrated.
When asked if the Prime Minister should get involved in order to unblock the negotiations, Mélanie Hubert instead criticized François Legault for having thrown fuel on the fire last Friday during his end-of-term review. parliamentary session.
“I’m not sure he’s the right person to come and get involved in the negotiation. He promised the population that things would be good,” she recalled.
Other unions are also pressing Quebec to negotiate
Other unions also urged Quebec to accelerate the pace of negotiations. In the school network, professionals, support employees and teachers represented by the Common Front denounced the slowness of negotiations at sectoral tables on Monday.
“It seems that Legault did not get the memo of the urgency of the situation at the moment,” denounced Jacques Landry, president of the Federation of Education Professionals.
On the side of the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ), we deplore that the government had still not responded, Monday noon, to the union counter-offer presented on Friday.
“We were prepared to negotiate on Saturday and Sunday, but it takes two to dance,” said its president, Josée Scalabrini. If we want to do everything for the children of Quebec, as the government says, we will have to start real negotiations to ensure that these children return to school.”
With the collaboration of Daphnée Dion-Viens.