Quebec makes another offer to teachers as strike approaches one-month mark
READ THE LATEST: Teachers' union calls government's latest offer a 'step backwards'
The Quebec government has made another offer to the teachers' unions as the strike has nears the one-month mark.
"Today, we are making an important formal submission to the unions representing teachers (FAE and FSE-CSQ/QPAT) with a view to reaching agreements," wrote a spokesperson for Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "We'll let the unions have a look at it first, but we won't be commenting on it for the time being."
Teachers under the unions, largely in the French school network, have been on strike since Nov. 23.
The FAE, which represents 66,000 elementary and high school teachers, confirmed on social media that a new offer would be delivered in the afternoon, but declined to comment further.
Before the new offer was announced, teachers staged a sit-in at government offices and once again marched through downtown with a clear message: they're not going away.
"We've had enough of them keeping us out of school, keeping students out of school, keeping parents held hostage. We've had enough, parents have had enough, we need to be back in schools," teacher Marion Miller told CTV News on Tuesday.
To show how serious they are, teachers occupied the downtown office of the transport ministry.
"We're fighting for our working conditions, and also for the learning conditions of public school students," said Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, president of the Alliance des professeures et professeurs de Montréal (APPM).
After nearly a month of striking, without pay, many Fédération Autonome de l'Enseignement (FAE) teachers say they are distraught.
"It's just been long. We're very tired, we've been walking, being outside the schools everyday for three, four hours every day, walking all around the city and nothing is moving. We're just very tired now," one teacher said.
They were bolstered by a new poll, however, that found 56 per cent of respondents support the teachers and that support rises to 63 per cent among parents.
"I think the government is losing the public support, because they’re seeing that it’s in their camp, they’re the ones dragging this out," Miller said. "We've moved at the table, we need them to move"
Alissa Gutman has been a teacher for the past 20 years. Her husband is also a teacher, and as much as she loves the job, she's now started a business, and is considering leaving teaching.
"It’s highly discouraging," she said Tuesday. "The income for teachers is proving to be unreliable and we're a family of four and I literally cannot afford to go without an income."
The hope is the government's newest offer will put an end to the strikes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
Italian teenage computer wizard set to become the first saint of the millennial generation
Pope Francis paved the way for the canonization of the first saint of the millennial generation on Thursday, attributing a second miracle to a 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006.
Milk sold in Canadian grocery stores tested for avian influenza; results released
As avian flu spreads south of the border, Canadian officials are now testing samples of milk sold in grocery stores across the country.
Morgan Spurlock, Oscar-nominated director of 'Super Size Me,' dies at 53
Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar-nominee who made food and American diets his life's work, famously eating only at McDonald's for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.
'A really bad car crash': Why health experts are raising concerns over surging syphilis cases
A sexually transmitted infection (STI) that was once thought to be a thing of the past is now a public health priority for North American doctors.
Top Russian military officials are being arrested. Why is it happening?
It began last month with the arrest of a Russian deputy defense minister. Then the head of the ministry’s personnel directorate was hauled into court. This week, two more senior military officials were detained. All face charges of corruption, which they have denied.
Leaving time on the table: Surveys show unused paid vacation, 'quiet vacationing'
'Quiet vacationing' is the latest new term to describe the rough edges of office culture, and survey data shows it's widespread among North American workers.
Toddler dies after being struck by recycling truck in Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood
A toddler has died after being struck by a recycling truck in a Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.
Helicopters, impersonations and squeezing through the fence: a brief history of Quebec prison escapes
Friday's warrant for prison inmate Yacine Zouaoui, 32, is the latest in hundreds of reported prison breaks in Quebec. Sometimes, they just walked away; sometimes they went through a fence, and twice they used a helicopter.