Thanks to teachers' negotiations and pressure tactics, principals benefit from a significant pay increase without losing a single day of their pay.
• Also read: Public sector negotiations: $11 billion more for civil servant pay
Once teachers have signed their new collective agreement, it will be the turn of school principals to enter into discussions with the government about their working conditions, which will be determined by regulation in the National Assembly.
The agreement with the teachers then serves as a starting point for the exchange, which usually benefits from the profits of its employees.
“It's not written, but it is,” confirms the president of the Quebec Association of School Management Personnel, Carl Ouellet, in the line. “In our final regulations, we adhered to teachers’ offers of salary increases, bonuses and fixed bonuses.”
A minimum”
Under the proposed agreement between the government and the Common Front, teachers' salaries will increase by 17.4% over five years. An increase of 6% is planned for the first year if the agreement is accepted. The increases for subsequent years are 2.8%, 2.6%, 2.5% and 3.5%, respectively.
Management has closely followed the development of the situation in recent months, “without taking a position,” specifies Mr. Ouellet. “We hope to leave the same, it is the minimum,” he said. Then we will work on other elements again.”
The president of the Quebec Association of School Management Personnel, Carl Ouellet.
In particular, they will argue that it is currently not advantageous enough for a teacher to move to management level, although there is also a shortage of staff at school management levels and a teaching diploma is required to obtain a teacher's diploma in the director's position.
“The teachers don’t come,” complains Mr. Ouellet. It’s not the same conditions, it’s more pressure, there’s more responsibility and more accountability than management.”
At work, despite the strike
While teachers have given up several weeks without pay in the hope of improving their working conditions, management assures them that they have now earned their salaries.
Even though their businesses were closed due to the strike, they claim they are at work.
“We had work, telecommuting. The service center is still running,” he explains, emphasizing that the employees are not on strike. In particular, they had to send a sign of life online to the management of their facility once or twice a day.
In the school principals' pockets
- A principal earns between $84,101 and $142,024, depending on the number of students and number of years on the job.
- In 2022, principals received an average salary increase of 6.6%.
- There are between 3,000 and 3,500 principals and deputy principals in educational institutions in Quebec.