French public school teachers threaten strike
Educators could walk off the job for three days in mid-December
Unions representing 34,000 teachers in French public schools have asked their members for a threeday strike mandate that could see teachers walk off the job Dec. 9, 10 and 11.
Teachers in eight unions affiliated with the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement will take strike votes this Thursday, FAE president Sylvain Mallette said.
Teachers have decided to step up pressure tactics because “striking for one day at this stage isn’t enough,” Mallette said. More than 275,000 students in Montreal, Laval, the lower Laurentians and the Outaouais would be affected by a possible strike.
The FAE walked away from the negotiating table earlier this month saying that the government’s “obsession with austerity” is hurting teachers and students in the classroom.
However, Mallette said on Monday that the federation is prepared to return to the negotiating table “with an offer that will have gains for the government and the union” if Quebec lifts its condition that a new collective agreement contain no additional financial costs to the state. “Educating Quebecers costs money,” he said.
Recent opinion polls show that the majority of Quebecers support the teachers and support strike action to ensure teachers obtain a fair contract, Mallette said.
Last week, unions representing 400,000 provincial employees, including teachers at English public schools, suspended three strike days planned for Dec. 1, 2 and 3 in an effort to make progress at the bargaining table.
The unions, known as the Common Front, also lowered salary demands from 13.5 per cent to about 9.5 per cent over three years, but Treasury Board president Martin Coiteux said the monetary demands were still too high. Quebec is now offering public sector workers about 5.3 per cent over five years, up from three per cent over five years. It also withdrew its request to calculate retirement pensions on an employee’s eight best years rather than the five best years.
Mallette said teachers are stepping up pressure tactics because they want to respond to “the government’s stubbornness.”
“If the government can find $1 billion for Bombardier and $416 million for medical specialists, there is money for public schools,” Mallette said. “The government has decided to abandon public schools and we are defending them.”
Martin Bibeau, a longtime teacher who is now a union representative in Montreal, said teachers are ready to continue their fight for better financing of public schools.
“In my 25 years of teaching, I have never seen such support from the parents,” he said. “They know we are fighting for their children to get the services they need.”