After 30 months, Nunavik teachers still waiting for new contract

Nunavik’s teachers union is frustrated that another roadblock is stalling contract negotiations with the region’s school board that have been ongoing now for 30 months.

“It is so slow, especially considering that [collective agreements] in the south have been solved for around a year now,” Larry Imbeault, president of the Association of Employees in Northern Quebec, said in a French interview.

Noting the union is negotiating both for its teachers and education workers, he said: “We want both of our tables solved as soon as possible. It is urgent. Our members’ salaries have been frozen since 2023.”

Imbeault said negotiations hit another dead end in April over an issue which he declined to identify.

Kativik Ilisarniliriniq spokesperson Jade Bernier told Nunatsiaq News the school board will not comment on the situation.

On April 16, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq tabled a final global offer covering teachers and education workers with an expiry date of April 23. The union rejected it, based on the issue Imbeault cited.

“We made multiple counter-offers regarding this issue before, we repeated this demand and it doesn’t go through,” he said. “[The school board] even judged our proposition to be unreceivable.”

This all comes ahead of a hearing before Quebec’s Administrative Labour Tribunal in Montreal, set for May 9, regarding a complaint the teachers union filed in March alleging bad-faith negotiations on the board’s part.

Imbeault said the union’s complaint asks that the tribunal set specific dates for the two sides to meet or possibly order the board to compensate the union for legal fees and impose punitive financial damages on the board.

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.