Striking FAE teachers block Port of Montreal

Teachers from the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) gathered in front of the ports of Montreal and Quebec Thursday morning, saying that the government is “taking them for a ride” in the current negotiations.

In a press release, the FAE explained that its members chose to “block the Port of Montreal, since the only argument that the government seems to understand is money.” Members there for a few hours amid the early morning rush hour.

“The FAE as well as the teachers are therefore asking François Legault to take his responsibilities and act as a head of state concerned with reaching a satisfactory agreement in principle, which will respond to the crying needs of teachers, but also of their students, young people and adults,” said the vice-president for political life at the FAE, Patrick Bydal.

The 66,000 members of the FAE have been on indefinite strike since November 23. They begin their fifth week of walkout on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the FAE announced at the end of the day that it rejected the latest employer offer presented Tuesday by the Quebec Treasury Board. The other large teachers’ union, the Federation of Teaching Unions, affiliated with the CSQ, also rejected the offer Tuesday evening.

“Contrary to the remarks conveyed (Tuesday) by the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, and by the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, this new offer contains significant setbacks for teachers as well as for their students and does not constitute an agreement in principle satisfied to meet the pressing needs of public schools,” the press release said.

The president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, also accused the Legault government of having “opted for a strategy of exhausting teachers, by allowing this conflict to continue, which is completely unacceptable and irresponsible when we consider the suffering of teachers and the impacts of the lack of quality services for students.”