[There’s an exodus happening in Quebec’s public education system, teachers’ unions say, and the situation will worsen if the province fails to meet their demands at the negotiating table.

“Almost every day that we get calls from teachers who tell us they’ve made the decision to abandon the profession,” said Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, the president of the Montreal teachers’ alliance, one of nine teachers’ unions that make up the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE).

“The education system will cease to function soon if this many workers continue to leave,” she said, adding that many are burning out as a result of increased workloads under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unions have been in negotiations with the province since last January, and without a contract for nearly a year. The FAE, a federation representing close to 49,000 teachers in the province’s schools, is now threatening a general unlimited strike on May 31. Teachers represented under the federation’s nine member unions in five regions, including Montreal, have all voted to adopt strike mandates.

The last time Quebec teachers participated in a general unlimited strike was in 1972.]