The FSE-CSQ and its English-language counterpart QPAT had 59.5% support for the industry agreement.

Members of the Fédération des Syndicats de l'Enseignement (FSE) and its English-language counterpart, the Quebec Provincial Teachers Association (QPAT), voted 59.5 percent in favor of a proposed industry agreement with Quebec to renew collective agreements.

CSQ-affiliated FSEs represent 95,000 primary and secondary school teachers, or 60 percent of all teachers in Quebec. QPAT stands for 8,000 on the English side.

“We were told that we have taken a step. But we see that the disappointment is strong and clear. So, there is a sense of satisfaction that “we are succeeding”, but we know that there is still a lot of work to be done. We need to get to work immediately,” FSE President Jose Scalabrini concluded in an interview.

At the meeting, union representatives voiced members' grievances over Quebec's allocation of resources to address classroom composition and teachers' heavy workloads.

Ms. Scalabrini reports that her members also want to talk about issues such as tier three schools, student evaluations and parent communication.

“For them, these are all exchanges that have to happen. This is not negotiable; This is established in the Law on Education, in the regulations on education, in the education policy,” concludes Mrs. Scalabrini.

He hopes Education Minister Bernard Drainville will understand the significance of this vote.

“The government cannot ignore what they heard. They (teachers) told the government: we need to continue the changes in education. There is still a lot to be done,” Ms. Scalabrini said.

“Our Minister of Education should be very careful. It's not the comments he made this week that will help the debate, it's not telling teachers, “we couldn't give what we don't have.” Just a moment! There were still solutions. We can go further; we can work together. That's the message the minister needs to convey,” Ms Scalabrini said.

We will have to wait until next week to find out the percentage of support for the cross-industry agreement on pay and pensions negotiated by Common Front, a member of the CSQ. All trade unions participating in the common front have not finished their meetings yet.

---

Table of contents

The FSE and QPAT nevertheless highlight several achievements in the industry agreement, including the addition of $74 million for class composition – a recurring amount.

They also note the addition of an additional half-day resource in kindergarten in addition to classroom assistance. Groups with the largest number of students are given priority.

They also point to a gradual increase in telecommuting opportunities from the current two hours to five hours per week.

They also note the addition of 4,000 classroom assistants, as well as the gradual removal of collective control over students, which will eventually lead to the removal of all control by elementary teachers as much as possible.

They also focus on automatic recognition of observation for at least one hour per week in the learning assignment for all primary teachers.

In terms of pay, in addition to a 17.4 percent pay increase over the five years United Front negotiated, teachers will also benefit from increases in steps 1 through 15 of the pay scale.

– This story was translated from French by CityNews