Some CEGEP teachers, staff on strike Nov. 23-24
Posted November 11, 2023 2:17 pm.
Last Updated November 11, 2023 2:18 pm.
CEGEPs will be affected by strike days following negotiations between various unions and the government.
Members represented by the Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ) will be on strike on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, unless an agreement is reached by then.
Union members are following in the footsteps of the 65,000 elementary and secondary teachers with the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), who will launch an indefinite general strike Nov. 23.
“The offers of 10.3 per cent that we received from the government are not only insufficient, they are insulting,” said SPGQ president Guillaume Bouvrette on Saturday morning.
Staff retention is also at the heart of the dispute, according to the union.
“There is an exodus towards universities where the conditions are more attractive. This is true for researchers, but also for educational advisors and librarians,” said Bouvrette.
He adds that “for certain job groups, such as psychologists and counsellors, it is more interesting to turn to private practice.”
Negotiations are proving difficult in the education sector, where members of the Common Front – made up of the CSN, the CSQ, the APTS and the FTQ – also held a first day of strike Nov. 6. This common front represents 420,000 workers in the public sector.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews