MONTREAL – For teachers at the Lester B. Pearson School Board, it seems protesting is their newest extracurricular activity.
Nearly 100 teachers held an early-morning demonstration against on-going negotiations with the government.
“It shows they are pros, doing it on their own time. It also shows all this extra work that they do is on their own time,” said union president John Donnelly.
“Hopefully, the government recognizes that now that they’re pulling back on some of the extracurriculars that they’ve been doing.”
LBPSB has about 21,000 enrolled students, and an extra 8,000 in adult programs.
Donnelly said the ongoing protests are being felt by teachers.
“Right now, it’s stressful as usual but it’s also depressing because they know this offer is terrible and they don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
The Riverside School Board and the Chateauguay Valley Teachers Association have already voted to continue pressure tactics.
Other school boards, including the EMSB, will vote next week.
Teachers said the government isn’t prioritizing their needs.
Some of the proposed changes include larger student/teacher ratios, a two-year salary freeze and cuts to pension plans.
“The Quebec government is giving Montreal $13 million to heat Saint-Catherine Street in the winter, spending millions of dollars for lights on the Jacques Cartier Bridge,” said Arlene Tennett, a teacher at Evergreen Elementary.
“That money can go into education.”
With rolling strikes planned for the coming weeks, LBPSB teachers told Global News they know they aren’t alone.
“We’re all together in this and we all want to have a better future for our students and teachers,” said Tennett.
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