Ei-iE

Around 450 teachers from Northern Quebec went on strike until January 21st to express their exasperation because negotiations with employers have come to a standstill. They want their demands to be heard and for them to produce concrete results.

The strike, which started on January 16th, was attended by the Vice-President the Association of Employees in Northern Quebec – Central Union of Quebec (AENQ-CSQ), Larry Imbeault and Tarek Khazen, the Vice-President of the CSQ, Pascal Côté, the President of the Teaching Union Federation (FSE-CSQ), Richard Bergevin, the President of the Educational Support Personnel (FPSS-CSQ, Éric Pronovost and the President of the Education Professionals of Québec (FPPE-CSQ), Jacques Landry.

Strong solidarity

The teachers on strike from Nunavik, represented by the AENQ-CSQ, will be picketing in front of the 14 schools in the Inuit communities of Quebec. In solidarity with their colleagues from the North, several members of the CSQ gathered in front of the offices of the Kativik School Board, in Montreal, on January 16th.

“It is with a strong mandate supported by 88% of our members that we are going on strike to express our exasperation that negotiations are stalling because of a lack of will on the part of the employers. Our demands must be heard and produce concrete results if we want to attract and retain staff at a time when the staff shortage in the North is even greater than in the South. There are still a number of issues that need to be resolved, including bonuses to attract more staff, ensuring the supply of drinking water and managing violent incidents in class. Solving these problems is long overdue!”, said AENQ-CSQ President Larry Imbeault.

“We deplore the fact that negotiations in the North are taking so long and have been so arduous while the education network in the South solved its issues more than a year ago. This disparity is unacceptable, and we unreservedly support our AENQ-CSQ colleagues who deserve better working conditions. Given the extensive needs of schools in Northern Quebec, we must rapidly respond to these important issues that have an impact on staff living and working conditions and on students’ learning environment”, stressed the organisations at the protest.

They also reminded that education support personnel also have a mandate to go on strike, which could be triggered at any time if the deadlock at the negotiating table at the Kativik School Board is not broken.

CSQ: a lack of political will

For Éric Gingras, President of the CSQ, a member organisation of Education International, “in the South, negotiations finish after agreements are reached in the public sector. That’s the way things should happen. It has been a year since the conclusion of public sector negotiations in the South. Something isn’t working. We know that the realities on the ground are different but for things to be taking such a long time… at some point it must be a question of a lack of political will, especially that of the School Board”.

Union demands

The bonuses for attracting and retaining staff are one of the sticking points in a context where recruitment problems for communities in the North are even worse than for those in the South, as underscored by Mr Gingras.

The CSQ is also asking for better management of violent incidents in class.

The Kativik School Board – the employer that negotiates with the union – merely confirmed that teaching staff were on strike “in all our schools and adult education centres” and that there would be no classes during that period.

Education International: a call for social dialogue

Education International (EI) fully supports the teaching staff on strike in Quebec and recalls that social dialogue is a fundamental right of workers. EI calls for the competent public authorities to immediately take part in negotiations in good faith with the organisations representing education personnel.