Union urges province to keep pregnant teachers out of class

A major Quebec union is urging the provincial government to immediately remove pregnant teachers from schools to protect them from the risks associated with COVID -19.

“It is not for pregnant women to pay the price” for the shortage of teachers in the province, Sonia Éthier, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, said in an interview Saturday.

The union pointed to two new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States that highlight the risks of premature birth and neonatal admission for babies of women infected with the disease.

The CSQ said all pregnant women should be removed from schools, regardless of the stage of their pregnancy.

Éthier said one option is to reassign them to online teaching.

Physical distancing measures in place in schools are not protecting teachers, because the two-metre rule often can't be respected, the union leader said.

“A teacher cannot stay behind Plexiglas the whole day,” Éthier said. “There are children who have special needs — we have to move through the aisles (of desks), we have to help the children.”

In response to the plea from the CSQ, Education Minister Jeanfrançois Roberge's office said the provincial government made “no compromise on the health and safety of staff.”

“We understand that some staff may have concerns about the start of the school year in the current context,” his office said in an email.

Regarding pregnant women, Roberge's office said the public health department “recommends the implementation of certain additional health measures to protect them, but does not recommend their removal from the workplace. We follow the recommendations of public health experts.”