The Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) plans to continue its indefinite general strike for the rest of the week after negotiations failed to make significant progress over the weekend. According to Treasury President Sonia LeBel’s office, the teachers union “did not include anything about flexibility in its counteroffer.” A claim rejected by the president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, urging the population “not to be deceived”.
“It is regrettable that there are currently public allegations that we lack flexibility on certain points, because our counteroffer actually contained proposals that were consistent with the five priorities [du gouvernement] which was mentioned on October 11,” said Mélanie Hubert on the sidelines of a “feminist demonstration” organized by the FAE in Montreal as part of the 12 days of action against violence against women.
The FAE presented the government with a counteroffer on Saturday morning. The union and management parties discussed it on Saturday and Sunday, said Mélanie Hubert. Another meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon.
“But it certainly wasn’t the dream weekend we had imagined,” she said. We have to keep working. »
Asked whether the strike would continue for the rest of the week, the FAE president replied: “To listen to the statement made this morning [par le cabinet de Mme LeBel]We can imagine that it will indeed be difficult to reach an agreement soon. »
Nevertheless, she believes an agreement by Christmas is possible. “It is not only possible, it is necessary,” said Mélanie Hubert. There are half a million children who have not been to school for eight days. We have 66,500 teachers currently fighting for change. It does no one any good to prolong the conflict. »
Lack of flexibility, says Quebec
The office of Treasury President Sonia LeBel said Monday morning that “continuing the strike is a decision that lies with the FAE.” He regretted that the union “remains in its positions” and “has not presented anything in its counteroffer regarding flexibility.” “However, important openings were made on several priority issues for the union, such as job autonomy and class composition,” the company said. The government is prepared to go further in return for openness in work organization. »
In particular, the government wants to carry out the teacher recruitment process in June in order to avoid having too many positions left to fill on the eve of the school year. On August 23, Education Minister Bernard Drainville estimated that more than 8,000 teachers were missing. This number fell in the following weeks.
Mélanie Hubert believes Quebec is on the wrong track with its change to the teacher assignment system. She claims the government proposal will allow school leaders “to do whatever they want with the positions, to the detriment of our vulnerable people who are lower on the priority list and have less choice in the tasks they are offered”. “They also demand that the world be removed from the priority list if they reject contracts they don’t like,” she claims. That’s why we say to precarious employees: “No matter what position we offer you, you must accept it, otherwise your employment relationship with the service center will be called into question.” »
She insists that the allocation process is a matter of “local agreements negotiated in the past between each school service center and local unions.” In their opinion, the negotiating table is not the right place to review these approaches.
Remember that the FAE has 66,500 members who teach in different regions: Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, Basses-Laurentides, Estrie, Outaouais and Quebec. The union called for an indefinite general strike on November 23rd.
However, students whose teachers are affiliated with the FAE have been on compulsory leave since November 21st. The Common Front, which primarily represents school workers (daycare teachers, secretaries, etc.), resigned from November 21-23, forcing the closure of schools. Another series of strike days is planned by the Common Front from December 8th to 14th.