Headed for a showdown in Quebec

The ASSÉ student union contingent at the October 3 anti-austerity demonstration (rabble.ca)

MORE THAN 150,000 trade unionists, their families and supporters poured into the streets of Montreal from all over Quebec to protest Premier Philippe Couillard's attack on public-sector workers and government services.

In front of throngs of cheering demonstrators, Daniel Boyer, president of the Fédération des Travelaileurs du Québec (FTQ), declared, "I'm not going to say that this will be the last peaceful demonstration, but we're moving toward more muscular tactics."

This march came on the heels of a strike by 34,000 teachers on September 30 organized by Fédération autonome de l'eseignement (FAE) that shut down French schools throughout Quebec. And, on World Teachers' Day this past Monday, teachers across the province staged protests in front of their schools to denounce Couillard's cuts to education.

Parents are out in protest as well. Organized by Je protégé mon école publique, 20,000 parents formed human chains in front of their children's schools on September 1 and October 1. They are planning an even larger wave of school defenses on November 2.

Read more: http://socialistworker.org/2015/10/07/headed-for-a-showdown-in-quebec