CSQ files several requests to unionize teaching interns

The CSQ is filing some twenty applications for certification with the Administrative Labour Tribunal to unionize teaching interns.

The Centrale des syndicats du Québec is therefore launching a campaign to unionize these teaching interns. It will focus on school service centers or school boards where it already represents teaching members.

However, the debate will continue as to whether these interns can unionize.

A union is, in fact, an “association of employees.” The Labour Code specifies that an employee is “a person who works for an employer for remuneration.” However, teaching interns are not paid.

In the construction industry, for example, apprentices are paid and are unionized.

“The majority of internships for male-dominated jobs are paid, while those for female-dominated jobs are not. Already, as I’m leaving, I think that,” Anne Dionne, Second Vice-President of the CSQ, emphasized in an interview.

“At the CSQ, we’re known for that: feminist struggles are part of our DNA,” she added.

The CSQ, through its Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE), already represents the majority of elementary and secondary school teachers in Quebec, in addition to education professionals and school support staff.

“Now, these interns are given responsibilities, they’re asked to do classroom work. With the staff shortage we’re experiencing, the intern in a classroom, in a school, is called upon to do much more; we ask them to do much more than a simple training internship,” Dionne argued.

“Decent compensation for the work done by these people will surely be a top priority,” emphasized the Vice-President of the CSQ.

As for the other demands for these interns, the CSQ wants to first listen to what they have to say to develop their list of demands—if, of course, it succeeds in unionizing them.

It will now be up to the Administrative Labour Tribunal to determine whether the conditions for union certification are met.

Generally speaking, a labour relations officer certifies a union if there is agreement on the bargaining unit, the individuals affected, and if the union represents more than 50 per cent of the employees affected by the application. When a proportion between 35 per cent and 50 per cent is reached, a secret ballot is ordered.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), a large national union, has also initiated efforts to unionize these interns.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews