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update on montreal student strike;  on monday, canadian students voted overwhelmingly to reject the deal with the provincial government.  as blogged on sunday, and a day earlier, students in quebec have effectively mobilized 250,000 students in a 13 week long strike with massive demonstrations - also blockading banks, bridges, and government ministries - and since the liberal provincial government announced 75% tuition hikes over five years.

more in the video below from cbc news in montreal;  you can also see a motion picture clip of how massive some protests have been:





cbc also reports:

One student website has published what purports to be an insider's account of a marathon 24-hour negotiating session that led to the arrangement over the weekend.

That blow-by-blow description accuses the government of using sleep deprivation to get students, in the morning after all-night negotiations, to agree to what was put before them.

The paper breaks down monday's voting by student unions as follows - 

Rejecting:

Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne.

CEGEP Marie-Victorin.

CEGEP de Valleyfield.

CEGEP de Saint-Laurent.

CEGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe.

Arts and technology students association at the University of Montreal.

Literature and French language students association at the University of Montreal.

Computer sciences and operational research students association at the University of Montreal.

Sociology students association at Laval University.

Litterature students association at Laval University.

Geography students association at Laval University.

Quebec studies students association at the University of Trois- Rivières.

Language and communication students association at UQAM.

Regional development students association at UQAC.

Accepting:
 CEGEP de la Gaspésie et des Îles.


today, the montreal gazette cites figures - in the latest tally from the last two days of continued voting - overwhelmingly at 83,250 students against, and only 3,200 for.

so complete rejection is expected.  the montreal gazette reports:

Students said during weekend discussions their understanding was that everyone on this council would work to find money to reduce fees. But subsequent to the deal being signed, they said, government and university officials presented it as the onus being uniquely on students to find the money.

The students also said there was ambiguity about any surplus being applied to tuition fees.

Not only are students rejecting this deal en masse, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for CLASSE, the Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, said they are actually insulted by it.

“Students are not ready to compromise,” he said Tuesday night.

courtesy of montreal gazette

photographer:  john mahoney

montreal student strikers;

protester with sign:  "Le Diable Est Dan Les Details"

"The Devil Is In The Details"

the gazette's latest talley from student groups as follows:

So far, students at only two schools have supported the agreement : CEGEP de Gaspésie (600 students) and CEGEP de Rimouski (2,600 students).

Here’s a list of the associations that have rejected it:

CEGEPs: Valleyfield (1,965 students), Marie-Victorin (3,800 students), Bois de Boulogne (2,950 students), St. Laurent (3,500 students), Maisonneuve (6,100 students), Montmorency (6,600 students), l’Outaouais (4,600 students), Baie Comeau (700 students) and Lanaudière à Terrebonne (1,500 students).

Université de Montréal: Arts, creation and technology (13 students); psychology and sociology (88 students); comparative literature (185 students); architecture (353 students); geography (242 students); art history (160 students); medicine (1,319 students); computers and operational research (337 students); philosophy (296 students); music (634 students); graduate communication (209 students); graduate political science (170 students); history (337 students); and demography (72 students).Université Laval: Sociology (111 students); literary studies (350 students); geography (250 students); history (350 students); philosophy (241 students); and researchers in philosophy (120 students).Université du Québec à Chicoutimi: Regional intervention (85 students).
Université du Québec à Trois Rivières: Quebec studies (43 students).
Université de Sherbrooke: Arts and humanities (2,001 students); graduate arts and communications (282 students).
Concordia University: Concordia Student Union (34,000 students).

courtesy of tuition truth

montreal students on strike

in Sunday's teach-in discussion with montreal student organizers, organizers attributed part of their success in mobilizing so many students to the fact that their student unions are "inherently political."