Negotiations between the government and the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) intensified yesterday evening and Saturday morning. Its president recognizes that the agreement reached the day before with the largest teachers union “paves the way” for the compromise that is on the horizon for their group, which has been on strike for much longer.
Published at 12:39 p.m. Updated at 1:35 p.m
In addition, discussions are ongoing with the Common Front organizations (CSN, FTQ, CSQ and APTS). The Legault government reiterated on Saturday that its goal is to reach an agreement before Christmas, a sign that achieving the goal appears possible. Another positive signal: The Common Front also believes an agreement by December 25th is possible.
Negotiations at the central table where salaries are discussed lasted until 2 a.m. Saturday. Work had to be resumed quickly.
The pace has also accelerated at the industry tables where working conditions are discussed, including in the health sector. According to a tour by La Presse, the lights are green. The talks are making good progress, but there is still a long way to go, they say.
Quebec and the FAE have been negotiating all night and again this morning it was possible to learn from a source familiar with the matter.
“It’s been intense since yesterday [vendredi]“Hard work is being done, but there are still discussions and negotiation issues, so I will hold back,” confirmed the President of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, in an interview on the program Les faits d'abord, on Radio-Canada. Note that the Common Front union leaders canceled their appearance on this program at the last minute.
“We always aimed to reach an agreement before the holidays, but we will not sign a concessionary agreement,” Ms. Hubert reiterated when asked whether the FAE and its 66,500 members could continue their indefinite general strike after the holidays.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
The President of the Autonomous Education Federation, Mélanie Hubert
Mélanie Hubert does not hesitate to describe the negotiations currently taking place as a “blitz”, “since we have been working pretty continuously”. Otherwise, neither the government nor the FAE wanted to comment officially on the progress of the negotiations.
Pressure on the FAE has increased in the last 24 hours following the announcement of the start of a lightning negotiation between the government and the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ).
This union, which represents 60% of teachers, finally announced on Friday evening that its delegates had ratified a draft regulation agreed with the government the evening before. This fundamental agreement must be presented to the members of the FSE-CSQ “after the holidays,” said President Josée Scalabrini.
The passage of this agreement would essentially seal most new employment contracts for all teachers.
The FAE could, with its own consent, modify certain secondary elements; This happened in the previous round of talks when the FAE, led by Sylvain Mallette, was the first to reach an agreement with the government and the FSE-CSQ subsequently signed its own agreement.
“The first association that signs paves the way a little for the second,” Mélanie Hubert admitted on Saturday, pointing out that there was still “some leeway” on “perhaps more peripheral questions.” “It is certain that there are certain important principles that we need to accept and this is the subject of current discussions,” she added afterwards.
The two teachers' unions pursued a different pressure tactics strategy. The FSE-CSQ – like the other organizations of the Common Front – initially decided on strike days with the possibility of triggering an unlimited general strike if necessary. She was incapacitated for 11 days, divided into three sequences (one day, three days, then seven).
As for the FAE, it has given itself a mandate for an unlimited general strike. It was his union in Montreal, the Alliance of Professors of Montreal, that paved the way on May 16 by first adopting a mandate for an indefinite general strike (GGI). This was not a suggestion from FAE management. The vote took place at the St Denis Theater, where about 600 of the 9,500 members gathered for a meeting. Support for the GGI was 98.2%. The other FAE regional unions then followed suit.