Upcoming strikes by non-teaching staff in the Outaouais region  

Professional staff (e.g., guidance counsellors, psychologists, speech therapists) of school service centres in the Outaouais region will be on strike Thursday, April 29, from 12:01 am to 11:59 am. It should be noted that online learning will be maintained during this period.

All appointments scheduled on April 29 with a non-teaching professional will be cancelled or rescheduled. Parents are encouraged to contact their child's school with any questions in this regard.

Support staff will also be on strike Tuesday, May 4, from 12:01 am to 11:59 pm. Parents will be informed as soon as possible of the services that will be maintained or suspended on that day.

--Teachers' strike avoided at the WQSB

The Western Québec School Board (WQSB) teachers’ strike that was planned for Tuesday, April 27, has been called off. 

The strike, which was scheduled to take place from 2:45 pm to 5 pm, would have been the second strike this month involving teachers who work for 58 school service centres and English-language school boards. 

The WQSB teachers, who are represented by the Western Québec Teachers' Association (WQTA), wanted to protest against the slow pace of negotiations with the Legault government, as their contract expired last March. They are calling for better working conditions, including lighter workloads, better class composition, added services and better salaries.

Heidi Yetman, president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT), to which the WQTA is affiliated, cited a breakthrough at the negotiating table for the cancellation. She credited teachers for helping accelerate negotiations through their early morning strike on April 14, which began just after midnight and lasted until 9:30 am.

For their part, the 5,500 teachers from the three other school service centres in the region, represented by the Fédération autonome de l'enseignement (FAE) – namely the Portages-de-l'Outaouais (CSSPO), des Draveurs (CSSD) and Cœur-des-Vallées (CSSCV) school service centres – who have an unlimited general strike mandate to be exercised as of May 31, will be asked to vote on April 26 on an agreement in principle reached last week with the Treasury Board.