Several dozen Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) union members, who have been on an indefinite general strike since November 23, blocked an entrance to the Port of Montreal on Thursday morning to denounce the slow pace of negotiations with the Finance Ministry.
A similar action took place at the Port of Quebec, where strikers gathered on Henri-Bourassa Boulevard.
These demonstrations came the day after their union rejected Quebec's latest offer.
Waving flags in their union's colors, the strikers began blocking the main entrance to the Port of Montreal at the entrance to Boucherville and Notre-Dame streets near Highway 25 shortly before 6 a.m.
A long line of trucks then formed on Notre Dame Street. Some of them did not hesitate to honk in support of the strikers.
Toward the end of rush hour, protesters began to disperse.
In an interview on Radio-Canada Radio, FAE President Mélanie Hubert explained that union members gradually increased their pressure tactics and were now opting for “economic objectives that perhaps speak more in favor of the government than other objectives that we have adopted. “ [es] in the past “.
“The only language that the government seems to understand is the language of money,” Patrick Bydal, vice president of political life at the FAE, argued earlier when asked about the reasons that led the strikers to close the port of To target Montreal.
Mélanie Hubert reiterates that the striking teachers continue to aim to obtain a new employment contract before the holidays, although she agrees that “it will be difficult given the pace of negotiations, which is currently not sustainable enough”.
The FAE is ready to negotiate during the holidays, Ms. Hubert added, regretting that the Legault government “has allowed the conflict to last so long.”
More details to follow.