After 16 days of strike by the Autonomous Federation of Education, teachers are now looking for another job, pushed to the limit by the latest upheavals in the negotiations which are dragging on with the Legault government.
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This is what Sonia Bahl, a primary school teacher from Estrie who has nearly 20 years of experience, will do next week.
Rather than go picketing, she will update her CV. In the current context, Mme Bahl hopes to find another job quickly and not finish the school year.
“We are being fooled, I feel disrespected. I have reached my limit,” she said during an interview with The newspaperTHURSDAY.
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The statements of Prime Minister François Legault in recent days have convinced her that the government is negotiating “in a spirit of crushing” by trying to “emotionally manipulate” teachers, while Bill 23 adopted last week will only contribute ‘to further devalue the profession, according to Mme Bahl.
“This is the message I receive,” she says in a publication on social networks addressed to François Legault. “You have decided to be a bad faith interlocutor. Do I still want to work for an employer of this caliber?
No, says this teacher who has been denouncing government inaction in education for several years, which has led public schools “drifting” and teachers to the brink of exhaustion.
Photo provided by Sonia Bahl
Not an isolated case
Mme Bahl also affirms that it is far from being an isolated case. Her publication, which circulated widely in teacher groups, resonated with many colleagues, she said.
This is particularly the case of Joanna Kaczmarek, a teacher of 4e year from Montreal who contacted his school service center on Wednesday to inquire about the procedure in the event of resignation.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and with what’s going on, it’s even worse. If we fall back into the same conditions as before the strike, that no longer interests me. If we do not achieve something reasonable with the government, I will definitely consider other avenues,” she says, pushed to the limit by the lack of resources and the constant battles to wage obtain services that never meet the needs of its students.
Return to class dreaded
The return to class after weeks of strike makes us fear the worst, adds Mme Kaczmarek, while there will be all this catching up to do, once again.
“It’s still the teachers and students who are going to have to work harder and that’s scary,” she says.
On social networks, several teachers also claim to be looking for work due to the protracted conflict.
“In the face of contempt, indifference and lack of consideration, it is legitimate to turn around and go with the headwind, to be creative and seek to carry our intelligence, our arms, our sweat and our expertise elsewhere,” writes one of them.
Some 66,500 teachers from the Autonomous Federation of Education have been on an indefinite general strike since November 23, which led to the closure of 40% of the province’s schools, something unheard of in 40 years in Quebec.
Without strike funds, these teachers, who are mostly women, have been without pay for three weeks now.
