2023 Teacher Negotiation - FSE-CSQ and APEQ-QPAT Denounce the Employers' Misleading Rhetoric

QUEBEC CITY, Nov. 2, 2023 /CNW/ - After three negotiation meetings this week, the Fédération des syndicats de l'enseignement (FSE-CSQ) and the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (APEQ-QPAT) denounce the fact that, once again, the fancy rhetoric of the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, does not reflect the discussions that were held.

"The President of the Treasury Board is a skilled communicator who wants to make unions look like bad guys and troublemakers. That's fair game, but Sonia LeBel's outstretched hand too often turns into a slap in the face, because there is a huge discrepancy between what she says in the media and what is said at the negotiating tables. We denounce this misleading doublespeak and question the government's good faith in these talks. We want to know who is telling the truth: the minister or the employers' representatives. We want real talk because we're ready to move forward with solutions and mandates in hand," said Josée Scalabrini, President of the FSE-CSQ, and Steven Le Sueur, President of the APEQ-QPAT.

Although the FSE-CSQ and APEQ-QPAT each have their own separate sectoral negotiating table, they sit together at the same priority table. Here are some examples to illustrate the discrepancy between what is said in public and what is said during negotiations:

• New announcement of teacher's aides in high school: while the President of the Conseil du trésor loves to tout this in the media, even going so far as to compare it to a salary increase, the FSE-CSQ and the APEQ-QPAT have found that at the priority table, the employers' representatives were unable to explain or justify it other than by loosely associating it with local piecemeal initiatives to meet various needs to be identified in the communities. Nothing to do with salary or teacher's aides, as is widely claimed. This is a nicely crafted communication plan for a completely fabricated measure.
  
  
• Categorical refusal to discuss union priorities at the priority table: the union side is being specifically told that its priorities are not on the agenda. In addition to remaining completely closed to dialogue, the employers are proposing measures that violate Bill 37, which governs public sector negotiations. They are proposing to abolish the most important provisions to be negotiated at the local level for work organization.
  
  
• The myth of ratios: the President of the Treasury Board said on Monday: "Right now, the unions are pushing me for measures where, the day after signing, I have to add teachers [...] lower ratios as an example in the classrooms [...] tomorrow morning I sign [...], the next morning I'll hear grievances because I can't fulfill my commitment. <690/[1]?" However, she should be very much aware that the FSE-CSQ and APEQ-QPAT have submitted a significant deployment plan, the content of which has been put forward several times since May. It provides for a staggered implementation of lower ratios and the necessary compensation in case of inapplicability; there is therefore no question of grievances.
  
  
• Young teachers have the worst classes: repeated as a mantra intended only to harm the image of the unions. The latter quickly understood that this is a pretext to increase the management rights of school leaders. As it was clearly explained by the union during discussions at the sectoral tables, the employers and the President of the Treasury Board are well aware that almost all local agreements (clause 5-3.21) provide that it is the principals who ensure that tasks are developed and assigned equitably so that no teacher has more work than their colleagues. It is clear to the unions that the issue with difficult classes is precisely the fact that they are difficult classes and that they would not exist if tasks were developed and assigned correctly from the beginning.

"We have responded to all the invitations we have received, but no real exchange is possible. The employers' only mandate seems to be to push its own priorities. The President of the Treasury Board said that she was reaching out to the unions; it is time for the false rhetoric to stop and for real negotiations to begin. If the Treasury Board wishes to continue negotiating at two tables, one sectoral and one priority, it will have to demonstrate that it can establish links and address common issues, otherwise we will be forced to find THE table where real negotiations will take place. The 95,000 teachers we represent expect the government to listen and make more effort," concluded Scalabrini and Le Sueur.

The FSE-CSQ consists of 34 unions representing more than 87,000 teachers with school service centres and school boards across Quebec. Its members include teachers from all sectors, including pre-school, primary, secondary, vocational and general adult education. It is affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ).

Consisting of 10 unions, the QPAT represents more than 8,000 teachers from all education sectors of Quebec's English-language school boards. It negotiates in collaboration with the FSE-CSQ and is a member of the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF).

SOURCE Fédération des syndicats de l'enseignement (CSQ)