All Nunavik schools are set for a picket line from May 13 to May 30 as the union representing teachers and staff calls for a strike amid slow negotiations. Source: Cedric Gallant
Nunavik teachers and education professionals are planning a 17-day strike in May as negotiations toward a new collective agreement continue into their 30th month.
The strike is set for May 13 to May 30.
“I think it just goes to show how fed up our members are,” said Larry Imbeault, president of the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec, in a French phone interview.
Things are not moving, so we need to make things move.
He said the new school year that starts in the fall could be impacted if Nunavik teachers don’t get salaries that are competitive with those negotiated in other parts of the province. He said it would be difficult for the board to hire new teachers at the current pay rates.
“We want the school board to accept our proposition to end the negotiations that have been lingering for too long, so that we can turn the page,” Imbeault said.
Association members gave the union the mandate to strike this week, in a motion passed by the executive committee.
The union has been working toward a new agreement with Kativik Ilisinariliniq, the regional school board, and the Quebec government since October 31, 2022. The old collective agreement expired in May 2023 and affects about 450 teachers and support workers.
The union has expressed interest in an unlimited generalized strike, but also does not want to jeopardize the staff’s ability to go down south for the summer.
To strike this late into the school year was intentional—while the union says education is its priority, it also wants a new agreement in place before the next school year so current staff can be retained and new staff can be recruited.
“We believe that at this time is where the most pressure will be put on the school board,” Imbeault said.
He added he hopes the union and school board won’t remain in negotiations by the beginning of the next school year, because at that point “we won’t have a choice to use an unlimited general strike.”
If the school board doesn’t budge, we maintain our position.
This is the second strike for the union this year; the first one lasted four days in January.
Kativik Ilisinariliniq spokesperson Jade Bernier declined to comment on the situation for now.
The union and school board are set to meet May 9 before Quebec’s Administrative Labor Tribunal in Montreal regarding a complaint the union filed in March, alleging bad faith negotiations on the board’s part.
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