1 November 2022
With the upcoming start of a new negotiation round in the public sector, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) school network federations, that is, the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE-CSQ), the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ) and the Fédération des professionnelles et professionnels de l’éducation du Québec (FPPE-CSQ), as well as QPAT, the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers, took advantage today, on Halloween, of the tabling of their sectoral demands to send a message to the management negotiating committees and to the government: “We’re worth more than candy.”
Multiple union representatives held a demonstration in front of the school service centres’ and school boards’ management negotiating committees’ offices, located on René-Lévesque Boulevard, where they held a guard of honour for their negotiation spokespeople.
The activists then walked to the National Assembly.
Improve support staff’s job quality
On the school support staff’s side, the staff shortage issue represents a major challenge for the FPSS-CSQ members. The Federation thus intends to demand very precise measures that will have the effect of improving personnel attraction and retention, including:
- Full-time positions;
- The end of broken schedules;
- Recognition of the value of all school support jobs;
- Family-work balance.
The President of the FPSS-CSQ, Éric Pronovost, said that “we mustn’t disguise the working conditions so they seem better, we need true concrete gestures so that they are. We won’t let ourselves be fooled by a smokescreen, the magic will operate when support staff is fully recognized. We must resolve those issues, and it comes down to negotiation.”
Pictures:
- Submission to management negotiating committees’ offices
- March from CPN to the National Assembly
- In front of the National Assembly
Video credit: Alexandre Boutin of Syndicat du personnel technique et administratif du C.S.S. de la Région-de-Sherbrooke