It is now official, the cégep teachers of FNEEQ have voted in favour of the agreement in principle. We are on our way to signing a new collective agreement. Read below for some details about next steps and what to expect in the next few weeks.
Once again, we would like to recognise the committed mobilization of Vanier teachers in this negotiation round. Without your presence at the various activities in November and December, and without your contribution to the entire strike effort, all this would not have been possible. Thank you.
Note that we still have a few strike pay cheques to distribute. If you have not yet collected yours, please pass by the office or contact us.
Nego news: We have an agreement!
After an extensive consultation period across all local unions, during which we had to vote on both the central and sectoral offers, the new agreement was officially adopted!
At the Front Commun level, the agreement was adopted by 75% of voting workers. This average is slightly higher among the CSN unions (81%), and in particular for our federation (FNEEQ), with 84% of support. This is in line with our local results at the January 24 GA, where we voted in favor of the central and sectoral agreements at 80% and 83%.
No doubt that the massive mobilization and the general population support allowed us to notably improve the initial, insulting government offers, and make significant gains: working conditions will be improved in all sectors, wages will increase by at least 17,4% in the next five years (and by more for those at the early stages of their careers) and some type of indexation was put in place, even though it is limited to 1% per year for the last three years of the new 2023-2028 agreement.
This being said, we should look forward to the next round of negotiations as decades of neglect of our public networks will require more than what we were able to gain this time around.
In order to reflect on this round of bargaining, assess the effectiveness of alliances, and prepare for the subsequent rounds, an evaluation will be undertaken at all levels. We will locally strike an ad-hoc VCTA postmortem committee, FNEEQ intends to form a similar one in May, and the four main Front Commun partners will produce reports to that effect.
Finally, the nego committee’s work is ongoing, as details of the agreement must now be effectively incorporated into the new collective agreement. The “Clause à clause” technical rewriting of articles, as well as decisions on how to concretely share (among the two federations of cegep teachers – FEC and FNEEQ, and then among cegeps) and inject the resources obtained during the bargaining are underway. Notably, specifics need to be ironed out for the 40 FTEs that were granted to reduce the workload in Nursing departments, and for the increased NES factor for 30 hour courses, mostly benefiting the PhysEd departments. Consultations of local admins are still necessary before deciding on the repartition of the Distance Learning and Conted charges resources.
Even if our retroactive salary might not be received before May, it seems that resources will be made available in time for the allocation project in April, and will materialize in the 2024-2025 academic year budget. We will keep you updated on this timeline.
Leucan-CSN Walk-a-thon — 17 March
Again this year, CSN is holding its Marche-don campaign in support of the Camp Vol d’été Leucan-CSN. Teams of four to seven people will walk for 50 km or run for 100 km in relay to collect funds for the camp. To register, you need to gather at least $500 for your team. If a team is formed at Vanier, the VCTA will contribute $250. If more than one team is formed, we will donate $100 to each team. See attached guide for more details, and let us know if you’d like to participate.
Formation santé et sécurité au travail — 11 et 12 avril
La FNEEQ tiendra une formation portant sur la prévention de la violence et du harcèlement les 11 et 12 avril prochains. Les sessions se tiendront en français, et auront lieu dans les bureaux de la CSN à Montréal. Nous avons une place disponible, et nous l’offrons à un·e membre de la VCTA. Si ça vous intéresse, contactez nous pour obtenir plus de détails. Les déplacements et les repas du midi sont remboursés, ainsi que les frais de substitution pour vos cours, si nécessaire.
Upcoming meetings
Association Council • 29 February
Academic Council • 1 March
General Assembly • 6 March