Kativik School Board - AENQ-CSQ members endorse tentative agreement

MONTREAL, May 28, 2025 /CNW/ - After over 30 months of negotiations, the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec (AENQ-CSQ) announced that the Kativik School Board (KSB) teaching and support staff supported the adoption of the tentative agreement reached with management.

Strong support for the tentative agreement

Following the announcement of a tentative agreement on May 9, members of the AENQ-CSQ have voted in the last few days. The results for the various staff categories are as follows:

• Teaching staff (E4): 90.42% of members voted in favour of the tentative agreement.
• Support staff (S9): 95.54% of members voted in favour of the tentative agreement.

"I would like to take the time to express my sincerest thanks to the members who played an active role and stood fast since our previous collective agreement expired on March 31, 2023. I would also like to thank the union delegates, the bargaining teams and staff from the AENQ-CSQ, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the federations directly or indirectly involved in our negotiations. They have all done an outstanding job, for which the members and I are grateful. The buy-in for this tentative agreement speaks for itself," said Larry Imbeault, President of the AENQ-CSQ.

Enactment of new provisions

Over the coming weeks, stakeholders will prepare the collective agreement's final texts. While the AENQ-CSQ shares its members' eagerness to see the new provisions come into force, it reiterates that this step is essential for ensuring they rigorously comply with the tentative agreement's terms.

This step is also underway for Cree School Board's (CSB) teaching and support staff.

AENQ-CSQ seeking to accelerate next steps

"Our working conditions in the North pose considerable challenges, and the lag with negotiations in the South further complicates matters. I'm once again hoping the school board is as willing to work together to find lasting solutions so that we don't have to go through round after round of negotiations that drag on far longer than necessary. Our members, their own employees, shouldn't have to be penalized," concluded Larry Imbeault.

About the AENQ-CSQ

The AENQ-CSQ is a union association that brings together teaching and support staff from the Cree and Kativik school boards, Eeyou Istchee daycare staff, as well as teaching staff from two Atikamekw tribal council schools. It boasts more than 2,000 members working in the nine Cree communities across James Bay, the 14 Inuit communities of Nunavik, as well as in Montreal, Gatineau, Saint-Jérôme, Opitciwan and Wemotaci. Five languages are used across the territory covered by the AENQ-CSQ, namely Inuktitut, Cree, Atikamekw, English and French.

SOURCE ASSOCIATION OF EMPLOYEES OF NORTHERN QUEBEC (AENQ-CSQ)