It was a return to class for thousands of teaching students from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Monday morning, after five weeks of strike. But the lull could be short-lived. Citing measures taken by the University that will penalize future teachers who have gone on strike and who could delay their entry into the labor market, a new vote on a proposal for an indefinite strike will take place on Wednesday.
Students voted to resume classes at a general meeting last week. At that time, they were satisfied: the Faculty of Education at UQAM had signed 30 commitments, “great progress”, underlines Danaë Simard, in charge of communications and mobilization of the Student Association. from the Faculty of Education (ADEESE-UQAM).
“We managed to have someone hired at the University’s Harassment Intervention and Prevention Office specifically for cases of harassment in an internship setting,” she says.
But they were disillusioned during the negotiations to return to class. The student association says that, following recommendations from the Commission des études, UQAM’s board of directors voted last Friday to “penalize” those who went on strike, by “sinking” them. Some will be given a mention of abandonment of their internship and their intensive courses.
“Students will have to resume their internship and intensive courses, thus extending their course by one year because these courses are only offered during the fall semester,” explains Danaë Simard. This could delay obtaining their patent, while there is a shortage of teachers.
The student association estimates that this measure could affect 750 people in second, third and fourth year. A figure denied by UQAM. “In total, for internships, fewer than 50 students are affected”, writes to the To have to Caroline Tessier, Director of Communications Services. Students had the choice of whether or not to attend their internship during the strike, and “the vast majority of internships indeed continued in a compliant manner this fall,” she underlines.
“In the case of intensive courses, everything is currently being done by the management of the programs concerned to resolve specific situations and deal with them on a case-by-case basis,” she adds.
Several strike meetings
An emergency general assembly, with the strike as the only point, will take place on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. It is difficult to know which side the students will vote on: the student association admits that the situation creates division between those who will be penalized nope. General strike meetings will also take place on the side of students in the humanities, political science, law and art.
Raphaëlle Bourque-Proulx, fourth year student in the bachelor’s degree in preschool education and primary education, does not yet know if she will have a mention of abandonment. An anxiety-provoking situation, she explains, and which could force her to take lessons again next year. “I received an email today from my teacher, he wants to make arrangements so that this does not happen,” she said. We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss the evaluation agreement. »
She will be present at the general meeting, but is currently considering voting against the indefinite strike. “I don’t want to make the situation worse,” she said.
Nathan Lepage, a second-year student in the baccalaureate in secondary education, expects a mention of abandonment given that he missed ten days of internship and that he can only resume eight before the end of the session. “We had an official communication at the beginning of the afternoon which explicitly says that anyone who cannot complete their entire internship in the session will automatically be abandoned,” he says.
“I have faith in student democracy. The more the days progress, the more the threats from UQAM multiply, but the more angry people there are who will take measures against this kind of repression,” he concludes.