Tempers flared on Friday evening at La Joute over the future of FAE union leaders responsible for the strategy to go on indefinite general strike action on November 23. Five weeks without pay after the strike was imposed forced many teachers to dip into their savings and ask for bank loans.
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“If I were a member of the FAE, I would take the microphone and say: 'Can you explain to me the same conditions as the other union in the general front and why we have gone? Five weeks without pay and they rarely have a week,'” criticized analyst Luc Lavoie.
Guest says the choice to enter an indefinite general strike in November was “a catastrophic miscalculation” because the strategy was more damaging to members than to the government. All this while providing mixed results regarding the conditions requested in the class composition.
“I'll even ask for their heads,” said Mr. Lavoie says.
Significant gain in salary
Stéphane Bédard, a lawyer and politician invited to the event, elaborated on the results emerging from the strike.
“In salary, he made significant gains,” he says.
Mr. According to Bedard, teachers who were members of the FAE had “unrealistic expectations about the organization of classes” and therefore, a strike would not solve all their problems in a few weeks.
However, the politician is adamant that the FAE will sign up in anticipation of the proposed policy and that teachers will not return to strike in the coming weeks.
However, Mr. Like Lavoie, the former PQ MP recognizes that there is a strong militant core within FAE teachers and that this is why the union meeting may have taken such radical decisions.
“Common Front can thank the FAE”
Elsie Lefebvre, a former PQ MP, came to the defense of FAE members.
“If they choose to join an important, and strong, and powerful movement like an unlimited general strike, at the cost of their financial and family situation, it's because the situation in schools is so difficult,” he says.
According to her, the activism raised by the two men “comes out of desperation”.
The politician says the sacrifices of the FAE teachers were not in vain and they also benefited other union organizations that were on strike.
“Ultimately, the General Front can thank the FAE,” he insists.
***Watch an excerpt from La Joute's performance in the video above***
