The 65,000 primary and secondary school teachers who are members of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) will launch their indefinite general strike from November 23rd.
This is the decision made on Thursday evening by the sixty FAE delegates who met to analyze the new offer from Quebec.
Voting for the strike had been ongoing since the end of September as all FAE unions had voted very strongly for it. It was enough to determine the timing of its triggering following recent developments in public sector negotiations.
Unlike the Inter-union Common Front and the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), the FAE will launch an indefinite general strike immediately, rather than one or more strike days beforehand.
A 21 day ultimatum
The countdown has started. The message we send tonight to Sonia LeBel, to Bernard Drainville and to François Legault is that teachers are out of breath. Nobody goes on strike out of joy, said the President of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, in a presentation to her members that evening.
FAE officials stressed that by setting the date of the indefinite strike on November 23, there would be 21 days to resolve the matter.
The proposal presented last Sunday by Treasury President Sonia LeBel was deemed “clearly inadequate.”
The minister increased her salary offer from 9% over five years to 10.3% over five years. The one-time payment offer of a flat rate of $1,000 for the first year remains. In addition, the amount was increased from 2.5% to 3% for state priorities such as differentiated offers related to work organization.
The FAE is an independent group that represents around 65,000 primary and secondary teachers through its nine unions.
The nine unions of the FAE are:
- the Montreal Teachers’ Alliance;
- the Western Montreal Education Union;
- the Pointe-de-l’île Education Union;
- the Laval Region Education Union;
- the Basses-Laurentides Education Union;
- the Lordships Education Union;
- the Outaouais Education Union;
- the Haute-Yamaska Education Union;
- the Quebec Region Education Union.
Service centers that will be affected by the FAE strike
Montreal region
- Montreal School Service Center
- Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center
- Pointe-de-l’Île School Service Center
- Laval School Service Center
Quebec region
- Capital School Service Center
- Premières-Seigneuries school service center
Monterégie
- Trois-Lacs School Service Center
- Val-des-Cerfs school service center
Laurentides
- Thousand Islands School Service Center
Outaouais
- Portages-de-l’Outaouais School Service Center
- Draveurs school service center
- School service center in Cœur-des-Vallées
Source: FAE press release