Despite the actions taken by the Legault government in recent years, violence against school support staff continues to increase, according to two unions.<\/p>\n
A survey of some 6,000 members of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des employ\u00e9es et employ\u00e9s de services publics (FEESP-CSN) suggests that 52 per cent of them have experienced physical violence.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the figure was 37 per cent, according to a similar survey by the Institut national de sant\u00e9 publique du Qu\u00e9bec (INSPQ).<\/p>\n
The attacks are primarily perpetrated by students, but also, to a lesser extent, by parents, colleagues, and members of management, according to the FEESP.<\/p>\n
In addition to attacks with objects, the union deplores shouting, foul language, death threats, and sexual gestures.<\/p>\n
It points out that the vast majority of respondents to the survey are women. More than 700 people have reportedly received death threats, and 247 have had their private parts touched, according to this latest survey.<\/p>\n
This situation is completely unacceptable, denounced Annie Charland, president of the FEESP (French Federation of Schools), in an interview.<\/p>\n
She acknowledges that the Legault government rolled out a School Violence and Bullying Prevention Plan in 2023 and introduced a thematic week this year.<\/p>\n
A protocol aimed at standardizing practices in violence prevention and intervention was also introduced.<\/p>\n
However, \u201cit doesn\u2019t change much,\u201d Charland said, adding that she herself has been beaten, spat on, and called names.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing told, \u2018You\u2019re ugly, you\u2019re innocent,\u2019 is one thing. But being told that every day becomes psychologically difficult,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Of the approximately 6,000 employees who responded to the survey, 26 per cent are now considering leaving their jobs. The figure obtained in 2022 by the INSPQ was 19 per cent.<\/p>\n
The FEESP\u2019s observation that the situation is worsening is shared by the Centrale des syndicats du Qu\u00e9bec (CSQ). Its president, \u00c9ric Gingras, is sounding the alarm.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of the job category, whether support staff, professionals, or teachers, all internal figures are increasing,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone now thinks it\u2019s serious, that we need to address it. However, the problem we have is that it\u2019s going beyond the school walls. It\u2019s a societal problem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In the short term, the unions are asking the government to include the education sector in its Bill 101, An Act to improve certain labour laws.<\/p>\n
This would increase occupational health and safety protection for all employees in the education system, they argue.<\/p>\n
\u2013This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the actions taken by the Legault government in recent years, violence against school support staff continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-230484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}