Que. teachers' union to make counter-offer, indefinite strike continues
FAE union heads say they've refused Quebec's latest contract offer and plan to offer their own terms to end the widespread teachers' strike which stretched into its seventh day Friday.
"On Tuesday evening, November 28, the FAE received a new offer from the government which it analyzed rigorously," read a French-language release from the teachers' union.
However, the union says the province's offer did not "make it possible to suspend the unlimited general strike."
"So, this strike will continue on Monday," said union president Melanie Hubert during a Friday evening press conference in Montreal following two days of union meetings.
"On the other hand, the FAE remains determined to find a satisfactory agreement," she said. "The time spent over the past two days has been devoted to working on a counter-offer which will be tabled as quickly as possible at the negotiating table."
She said the union wants to continue talks over the weekend to "take advantage of these two days where the students do not miss school, where teachers are not deprived of salary."
Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel took to social media to express her disappointment.
"We are aware of the impacts of the strike on the students, and we are obviously disappointed," wrote LeBel in French. "But, we are committed to signing agreements for the benefit of students and staff, so we will continue our efforts to get there as quickly as possible." She said negotiations will continue over the coming days.
The announcement came on the heels of controversial remarks from Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who told reporters Friday that he has "a hard time living with the fact that our children aren't in school."
"What's happening now is bad for our children," said the premier. The union said Legault's words amount to "emotional blackmail."
"What's hurting public schools is the deterioration of the system which has been exacerbated since you've been in power," the union wrote in a social media post addressed to Legault.
The FAE, which stands for the Federation autonome de l'enseignement, represents 66,500 teachers at the primary and secondary levels. They've been on strike since Nov. 23, shutting around 800 schools across the province.
Quebec's remaining 95,000 teachers are members of the CSQ, which is part of the Common Front.
The Common Front held its own four-day strike in November and has since announced seven more strike days, which are expected to run from Dec. 8 to 14.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
President Joe Biden calls Japan and India 'xenophobic' nations that do not welcome immigrants
President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U.S. on immigration.
Universities grapple with the complicated politics of campus encampments
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.
Police order B.C. woman who praised Hamas not to protest for 5 months, says her group
A pro-Palestinian activist group says its international co-ordinator, who was arrested in a Vancouver hate-crime investigation, was released with an order not to attend any protests for the next five months.