There was great collective concern that around 8,000 teachers were missing on the eve of classes starting in August.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville seemed almost as dismayed then as he had been when his leader abandoned the third link last winter.
Then the number of 8,000 began to disappear. And despite a real teacher shortage, we were far from the catastrophe we feared two weeks earlier.
- Listen to the political meeting between Antoine Robitaille and Benoit Dutrizac QUB radio :
trauma
This traumatic experience led many in the government and the public to demand that task assignments from now on be completed in late May or June. Which seems to make sense.
This would avoid a lot of unnecessary stress for parents, principals, the priest… and of course the teachers themselves! (In my short career as a college professor, I remember the shock of learning in mid-August that I was scheduled to begin teaching the Western Political History course a few days later.)
An earlier distribution of tasks seems to suit everyone. François Legault and his Treasury Board president, Sonia LeBel, made it an example of “sought-after flexibility” last week.
PHOTO AGENCY QMI, TOMA ICZKOVITS
Where it sticks
Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy had to lift a taboo at Salon Bleu last Thursday about one of the main reasons for assigning tasks at the last minute. She turned to Sonia LeBel: “Can you admit that when you ask teachers to be available from June 30th?” […] Do they have to refuse unemployment? Can you say that?”
LeBel dodged the question, both in and out of the room. In the union camp we are more cautious and say that the simple solution is to increase the number of permanent positions. The government camp does not seem to be closed to this.
As a teacher with precarious status but full-time employment, you will receive the same amount in 10 months as permanent teachers, but the latter’s salary is spread over 12 months.
Prime
Many precarious workers have therefore gotten into the habit of reporting “unemployment” for the summer months by ticking a box on the forms certifying that they are not sure whether they will be offered a job in the foreseeable future. “That was when there was a teacher oversupply,” a source familiar with the matter tells me. “But today, given the staff shortage, it is almost certain that all precarious workers will return in August.” These people are jealous: they get their full salary in 10 months, with a “bonus” of two months of unemployment. Hence the “financial compensation” that a union at the table wants to demand. “Since a job is virtually guaranteed, we are not even sure if it is still legal” to obtain employment insurance in this way, one informant confided to me.
Other problems would prevent earlier assignment of tasks, but no source seemed to be able to give me examples other than this case of losing “unemployment.” In any case, we seem to be a long way from the official nonsense that only the student is the focus of concern…
