A yellow-and-blue flood of 5,000 teachers flocked to the pavement in front of the National Assembly on Saturday afternoon, demanding better working conditions and sending a clear message to the Legault government.
Thousands of teachers, coming from all over Quebec demanding a reduction in their duties, held up signs with shocking phrases such as “Teacher seeks competent minister” to the sound of trumpets.
As expected, this week’s salary increase for elected officials went through the teachers and was on everyone’s lips.
“It’s humiliating and demeaning. If he can afford a raise, we deserve it as much as our Ontario colleagues,” said Claudia Crète, a teacher at Saint-Jude School in Châteauguay.
The deputy of the Quebec Solidarity Corps Ruba Ghazal, present to support the teachers, took the opportunity to denounce the inconsistency related to this increase in the salaries of the deputies.
“It is shameful that the government has rushed to increase MPs’ salaries by 30% and is offering almost nothing to teachers. “At the moment there is a shortage of teachers, not deputies,” emphasizes Mercier’s riding officer.
leave the profession
For her part, the President of the Federation of Teachers’ Unions, Josée Scalabrini, believes that the current shortage of teachers is only due to a lack of recognition coupled with poor working conditions.
“Teaching is our passion and that’s what we studied at university for four years, but the working conditions we are placed in mean that too many teachers leave their profession,” she explains.
Photo Nicolas St Pierre
Some even say they’re looking forward to retirement, not because of a lack of commitment, but because the job isn’t what it used to be.
“I’m almost glad to go. It’s not because I don’t like what I’m doing, but because it’s going to be extremely difficult in the next few years,” adds Marie-Claire Venne, who is retiring in a year.
Others even raised the white flag before they even got started. This is the case of Nicolas Duchaine, who later regrets the change of career.
“Our teachers often told us that it was a thankless job and that we had to be passionate about it. When I did my internships, I realized that I didn’t care enough about the conditions there, and today it’s even worse,” says the now programmer-analyst.
Photo Nicolas St Pierre
Present for the occasion, comedian Pierre Hébert, whose wife is a teacher, took the opportunity to send a clear message before continuing with a dose of humor, which helped to relax the atmosphere a bit.
“We must not forget that there are students for whom this is the only healthy situation, who live in terrible situations and for whom teachers are the only concrete and comforting link in their lives,” he began, before speaking of the students was cheered demonstrators.
Photo Nicolas St Pierre
Despite a series of corrections due to the approaching end of the school year, teachers insisted on highlighting the government’s inaction as the prime minister often talks about education as one of his priorities.
For its part, the union pointed out that if nothing were done in the next few months, the pressure would be increased.
what they said
“It’s really sad what’s happening right now. That’s how it seems to me at first [François Legault] Education was his passion.”
– Gabrielle Champagne, special education teacher
“I sometimes feel like they themselves forget the importance of teachers and that some probably helped them become who they are today.” – Benoît Champagne, teacher at the Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix school
“We need a government that sits down and says how I can help you and that recognizes that fifth secondary school is not enough to teach.” – Comedian Pierre Hébert, wife of a teacher
“The offers that are being made now aren’t even on par with increasing the cost of living.”
– Éric Paradis, President of the Lac-Saint-Jean teachers’ union
– In cooperation with the QMI Agency