A Grade 1 teacher arranges the desks in preparation for the new school year at the Willingdon Elementary School, in Montreal, on Aug. 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
MONTREAL – A Quebec union representing 65,000 elementary and high school teachers is launching an unlimited general strike as of Nov. 23.
Sixty delegates with the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement – known as the FAE – made the decision Thursday after they voted to reject the province’s latest contract offer.
In September the union voted for a general strike but didn’t set a date, and its leadership says there are about three weeks left to reach a negotiated settlement.
The government’s latest offer includes a 10.3 per cent salary increase over five years and a one-time payment of $1,000 to each worker.
That offer applies to the FAE and to hundreds of thousands of other public sector workers, whose unions are negotiating at the same time with the province.
A group of unions calling itself the “common front” has opted for a series of single-day strikes, the first of which will start on Monday and involve workers in the health and social services sector.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2023.
