Quebec students will return to school after a union that represents 40 percent of teachers in the province said it has reached an agreement in principle with the government and that union delegates voted to end a strike that commenced last month.
The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) took the hardest line out of all the public sector unions negotiating new contracts with the government when it commenced an unlimited strike on Nov. 23, closing about 800 schools and keeping 368,000 students home.
The union disclosed on social media last night that its negotiating committee spent the day analyzing the tentative deal that Quebec presented and would recommend it to its members to approve.
In a statement, Mélanie Hubert, president of the FAE, said: “The ultimate step is to present it to the 66,500 members of the FAE, who have shown exemplary courage and determination in recent weeks.
“It is up to the teachers to respond to the government of François Legault and to say whether they feel heard.”
Though the agreement details have not been released, the FAE says it will present the deal to members for a vote during general assemblies after the holiday.
Treasury Board Chair Sonia LeBel and Education Minister Bernard Drainville confirmed that the agreement covered salaries and working conditions for the approximately 66,000 union members.
The government announced recently that it had reached tentative deals on salaries with n group of unions, excluding the FAE, representing 420,000 public sector employees which include teachers and health-care workers.
