FAE teachers’ strike day 17: union calls Quebec government negotiators ‘disrespectful’

About 60 per cent of Quebec public schools reopened on Friday, after the Common Front union ended its seven-day strike, but the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) continues its unlimited general strike – now on day 17.

That means 40 per cent of Quebec public schools remain closed as the FAE’s 66,000 members are on the picket lines.

They held multiple demonstrations on Friday morning across the province to denounce “the unacceptable and disrespectful attitude of those representing the government at the bargaining table,” said the FAE in a press release.

Hundreds came together in front of the Quebec Treasury Board’s downtown Montreal office.

This comes the day after their union president came out to refute Premier Legault’s Wednesday statement that students would be back in class come Monday.

On Friday, Mélanie Hubert said, “today, the teachers who have held Quebec’s public schools [together] for too long, and who can’t take it any longer, are demonstrating in Quebec City, Montreal and the Outaouais region to ensure that things finally move forward at the bargaining tables.”

The FAE teachers say they don’t want to return to school with the same working conditions as when they left.

Unifor union announces $70,000 payout to public sector strikers

Unifor is donating $70,000 to help Quebec public sector workers on strike.

Last Monday, a major private-sector union, the United Steelworkers, announced a $100,000 donation to help the strikers.

Daniel Cloutier, Unifor’s Quebec director, believes that the Quebec government is banking on the strikers’ exhaustion. By calling for solidarity, he hopes that other unions will in turn support their public service colleagues.

Unifor specifies that strikers without a defense fund will be the main beneficiaries of its $70,000 aid package.

-With files from The Canadian Press