Health-care workers picket in front of the McGill University Health Centre super hospital on Dec. 11 in Montreal.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
A Quebec teachers’ union leader denounced the province’s tactics at the negotiating table as Premier François Legault’s government and hundreds of thousands of striking public-sector workers remain at an impasse after weeks of sporadic strikes that have shut down schools and caused delays in health care services.
Mélanie Hubert, president of the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), said at a news conference Monday that government negotiators responded to a major concession by asking for even more concessions from her union, which represents about 66,000 teachers participating in an open-ended strike since Nov. 23.
Ms. Hubert said that last week, the FAE proposed a way for most teachers to be appointed in June rather than August to facilitate school staffing, a demand from the government that the union had previously said fell under the purview of local chapters.
Rather than responding favourably, the government then asked for the FAE to withdraw some of its demands regarding work from home and class composition for students with special needs, Ms. Hubert said.
“FAE members have been cheated,” she said. “We have to reach an agreement before the holidays. It makes no sense for a conflict like this to go on,” Ms. Hubert said, adding that talks continued Monday.
On Monday, about 80,000 nurses and other health care workers – members of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) – began a four-day strike. They joined the FAE and workers from four other unions representing 420,000 Quebec public-sector workers who began a week-long strike on Friday.
Those workers include other teachers, education support staff, lab technicians and many others. They are members of a group of four unions known by their initials – CSQ, CSN, APTS and FTQ – that calls itself the Common Front.
Parents and patients scramble to deal with impact of strike in Quebec
The unions rejected the government’s most recent contract offer, which includes a salary increase of 12.7 per cent over five years, saying it ignores high rates of inflation in 2022.
“People have become poorer with inflation, which has increased enormously in recent years,” said Sébastien Adam, a psychology teacher and local union leader at Rosemont College, a Montreal CEGEP. On a picket line Monday, Mr. Adam said it was also important for members to get better working conditions, such as help to deal with a heavier workload caused by more students with special needs in the classroom.
Marielle Bedek, a literature teacher at Rosemont College, said she was also picketing for nurses and care attendants, who face gruelling schedules with little recognition from the government. “We are here for all public-sector employees who are part of the Common Front,” she said as drivers honked in approval.
Marylène Le Houillier, a spokesperson for Quebec Treasury Board Chair Sonia LeBel, said the unions’ demands are not realistic. To meet them, the government would need to put billions of dollars more on the table and hire “thousands of additional employees who simply do not exist” to relieve workloads, Ms. Le Houillier wrote in an e-mail.
Representatives from the Common Front unions said Sunday they are expected to update members about the future of the strike in a week. If an agreement isn’t in place by then, they could launch an unlimited strike after the holidays.
The latest strikes are the third such walkout since early November by the Common Front and the FIQ, which has shut down schools and delayed health care procedures.
Mr. Legault said last week he’s open to offering workers more money but wants unions to make concessions on issues such as flexibility in scheduling and transfer of workers between facilities.
With a report from The Canadian Press