QPAT and FSE-CSQ Sign National Agreements

Teachers' Negotiations 2023

QUEBEC, QC / ACCESSWIRE / June 8, 2024 / Today, the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT) and the Fédération des syndicats de l'enseignement (FSE-CSQ) signed a provincial agreement with management on the working conditions of the teachers they represent. It comes into force tomorrow, June 9, so the provisions can be applied as soon as possible for the next school year. The government must also pay teachers' salary increases retroactive to April 1, 2023, within 60 days of the official signature.

"We would like to thank and congratulate our seasoned negotiating teams, who worked tirelessly to avoid the pitfalls that areinherent in an exercise such as this," said FSE-CSQ President Josée Scalabrini and QPAT President Steven LeSueur.

The settlement reached by the FSE-CSQ and the QPAT includes an increase in steps 1 to 15 of the salary scale, along with the general parameters of salary increase of 17.4% over five years as negotiated at the central table for all workers in all sectors. It also includes $74 million in support for classroom composition and several measures to lighten the workload, such as the possibility of teleworking for one-quarter of all pedagogical days, the addition of classroom assistants, and the automatic recognition of a minimum of one hour of support per week (not included in the timetable) as part of the educational workload for all elementary teachers.

Although the settlement does achieve some gains, both the FSE-CSQ and the QPAT agree that there is still work to be done to improve teachers' working conditions.

The North's negotiations drag on

The FSE-CSQ and the QPAT firmly denounce the particularly long delays in negotiations for teachers belonging to the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec (AENQ-CSQ).

"The needs of Northern Quebec's schools are so significant that we need to pick up the pace of negotiations, to quickly respond to the major issues that have an impact both on staff's living and working conditions and on the students' learning conditions," said Ms. Scalabrini and Mr. LeSueur.

Profile

The Fédération des syndicats de l'enseignement brings together 34 unions representing over 95,000 teachers at 52 school service centres and school boards across Quebec. Its membership includes teaching staff from all sectors: preschool, elementary, secondary, vocational training and adult general education. It is affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Front commun.

Comprising ten unions, the QPAT represents more than 8,000 teachers in all educational sectors of Quebec's nine English-language school boards and the Centre de services scolaires du Littoral. It negotiates in collaboration with the FSE-CSQ and the Front commun. It is a member of the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF).

Information:

Sylvie Lemieux, FSE-CSQ Press Attaché
418 563-7193 / lemieux.sylvie@fse.lacsq.org

Julie Montpetit, QPAT Communications Advisor
514 249; -9653 / julie_montpetit@qpat-apeq.qc.ca

SOURCE: Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers