Teachers have not resigned en masse since the strike began, at least not at the Montreal School Service Center (CSSDM). Only seven of them have done so since schools closed, four fewer than at the same time a year ago. The outcome of the negotiations will have a significant impact on the future, say school management and the union.
Published at 1:33 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
What there is to know
The number of teachers who have resigned has not been particularly high since the strike began in certain school service centers, including in Montreal.
The Montreal Teachers' Alliance believes that many teachers are waiting for the outcome of the negotiations to take stock of their professional future.
Layoffs are also the concern of employees of the educational network with precarious status, “equally indispensable” personnel.
According to the province's largest school service center, seven teachers chose to resign between November 20 (the first week of the strike) and December 9, 2023.
At the same time last year, from November 19 to December 9, 2022, four more teachers resigned, for a total of 11.
The CSSDM employs 9,598 teachers.
At the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center, the second largest in Quebec, there have been 56 teacher resignations in the last six months, a number more than in the same period last year, when 55 resignations were recorded between July and December.
However, for the month of November we note an increase in the number of resignations between the two years: in 2023 there were 12, compared to only 3 last year.
The Laval School Service Center, which employs 6,200 teachers in its schools, has reported four resignations since the start of the indefinite general strike by the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE).
At the Pointe-de-l'Île school service center they explain to us that due to the “strike of care and specialist staff” it is impossible to tell us the number of terminations per month.
“This process must be carried out manually,” writes Valérie Biron, communications director of this CSS. However, she states that 29 teachers have resigned since the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
For 2022-2023, 110 teachers at this service center did the same.
It should be noted that we do not know the reasons for these resignations, which could be attributed, for example, to a change in CSS to a move to the local area.
Valérie Biron, communications director of the CSS de la Pointe-de-l'Île
The Marie-Victorin School Service Center on Montreal's South Shore notes that it is currently impossible to provide this information because “the staff working on the publication of this data are absent until December 14.”
It should be noted that teacher resignations at CSSDM have increased in the last five years. While only 163 left this service center in 2018-2019, twice as many last school year (340 in 2022-2023).
A negotiation with “direct effect”
As negotiations with Quebec continue, will we see more teachers becoming discouraged and making this their last year of teaching?
At the Montreal Teachers' Alliance, which represents unionized CSSDM teachers, president Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre believes many teachers are waiting for the outcome of the current negotiations to “take stock” of their professional future.
The issues discussed at the negotiating table, particularly the issue of task severity and class composition, will have a direct and immediate impact on the teacher shortage and the future of public schools.
Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, president of the Alliance of Montreal Teachers
“It is with great bitterness that I will resign at the end of the school year and will not return even if they give me 1 million a year,” a teacher with more than 1 million years of experience recently wrote to La Presse. 30 years of experience.
Some Montreal principals are receiving resignation letters from striking staff, but not just teachers, the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES) said.
“The longer the strike goes on, the more people are wondering whether they will stay in the education network,” says its president Kathleen Legault.
She notes that it is often workers with precarious status who find a new job and choose to stay there.
“We have others who see the obvious slowness of negotiations, so they feel that their work is not being recognized,” continues Ms. Legault, who recalls that strikes also affect employees who are less talked about but “just” are considered essential”.
For example, she mentions specialist staff and administrative staff. “Given the staffing shortage, our employees have other options,” says Ms. Legault.