Children whose teachers are affiliated with the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) will not be back in class today, despite Prime Minister François Legault's promise last week.
• Also read: Everything you need to know about public sector strikes
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As a result, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the 368,000 students affected by the FAE strike will be back in class by Christmas.
“There will certainly be no agreement on Monday,” said FAE President Mélanie Hubert in an interview with Le Journal on Friday.
Ms Hubert then made it clear to her members in a video that the FAE would continue to negotiate over the weekend, even if no “blitz” negotiations were planned.
Recall that Prime Minister François Legault said on Wednesday that he hoped for an early resolution to the indefinite general strike that has shut down almost 40% of Quebec schools for four weeks.
Unpaid teachers can also benefit from a food drive organized by citizens in several regions of Quebec next Saturday.
No more strikes
The CSQ Federation of Teaching Unions, which is affiliated with the Common Front, says it is “confident that the negotiations could produce interesting signals”.
“Have things progressed since Friday?” Yes. Are we close to reaching a fundamental agreement? NO. Can we still hope to reach an agreement before December 23rd? Certainly,” said its president Josée Scalabrini in a video published on X on Sunday evening.
In particular, a meeting is planned for Tuesday with the leaders of the Common Front, which represents more than 420,000 members.
“I still believe we can reach an agreement by December 24,” said François Énault, vice president of the CSN, which is part of the Common Front.
There is therefore no new strike day on the calendar for Common Front union members. But there is a real possibility of resorting to an indefinite general strike in January if no agreement is reached before the holidays.
“I don’t think the government wants to be in this film, and neither do we,” Mr. Énault said in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
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