Legault calls on teacher unions to “stop the strike.”

Prime Minister François Legault on Friday morning asked teachers’ unions to “stop the strike” because the current conflict is “bad for our children.” Pressure groups saw the statement as “emotionally threatening” and “insulting”.

“What is happening now is bad for our children,” the head of government said at a press scrum in the National Assembly on Friday morning. “I call on teachers’ unions to call off the strike for the sake of our children. »

Mr. Legault rejected the idea of ​​imposing a special law. “We’re not there,” he said. He reiterated that the government was prepared to review its salary offer, subject to the unions’ “flexibility”.

“We cannot hurt our children. “It’s the most precious thing we have,” he insisted. “I am ready to do anything – nothing is more important than our children – so we must stop this strike, which will harm the success of our children. »

The Prime Minister recalled that his government had proposed to add classroom equipment to teachers. The latter, Mr. According to Legault, they are “rightly” calling for class sizes to be reduced. However, he argued that this was impossible in a labor shortage environment.

“There is already an epidemic, so we have to stop it. I request all teachers unions to please stop the strike,” he reiterated.

“emotional threat”

The Autonomous Education Federation responded to François Legault via social media. “Mr Legault, FAE teachers reject emotional intimidation. It is the systemic decay that has worsened since you were in power that is hurting government schools,” he wrote on the X site (formerly Twitter).

“These statements by the prime minister are not helpful,” he added, as noted in the Central des Syndicates du Québec (CSQ).

“In Quebec there is enough contempt for teachers who stand up for quality teaching conditions for students,” responded Catherine Beauvais-Saint-Racque, president of the Alliance des Profes de Montréal. “People are not fooled, they know that our children are suffering because the government is not coming forward to invest. We will return to class with our students when the government promises to address the ills of government schools. »

For his part, Josie Scalabrini, head of the Confederation of Education Unions, confirmed that “the Prime Minister is trying to make teachers feel guilty for mobilizing to improve their working conditions”. He is Mr. He accuses Legault of “adding fuel to the fire” and asks him to “give clear orders to his negotiators” to give teachers better working conditions.

Many students in Quebec have been on mandatory leave since November 21. A general strike consisting of teachers and school support staff (daycare educators, secretaries, etc.) walked off the job from November 21 to 23.

The FAE, which has 66,500 teachers, launched an indefinite general strike on November 23. Unlike the general front unions (CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS), the FAE did not call for a compromise.

Schools with FAE-affiliated teachers have been closed since November 21. They are located in different regions: Montreal, Laval, Monterrey, Pas-Laurentides, Estrey, Outaois and Quebec.

No wall to wall bonuses

In the case of nurses, requiring bonuses for all workers was a bad management decision, the Prime Minister said.

“The union tells us: If you give [des primes], even where there are no recruitment problems, we have to give them wall to wall. That makes no sense! We must return to the ABC of good governance,” he argued.

80,000 members of Quebec (FIQ) will strike from December 11 to 14. In a press release issued Thursday, the union, which is made up mainly of nurses, recalled that bonuses already exist in the collective agreement. He is demanding from Quebec that the salary of health professionals working on weekends be increased by 50% of the normal rate. “It is the government that prevents it,” writes FIQ.

Its president, Julie Bouchard, said in a press release that there had been “progress at the negotiating table” and “openness on both sides.”

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