Teacher Union : Myth or Reality?

In 1965 Quebec teachers were included in a new and revised Provincial Labour Code which conferred union status upon teacher organizations. Prior to this date, teacher organizations were perceived as professional associations and operated as such. The encasing of teachers into the new Quebec Labour Code can be perceived as the first overt indication from the Quebec government that they questioned the "professional status" of teachers. The author set out (circa 1981) to determine whether the St. Lawrence-Richelieu Teachers' Association (SRTA) was a union or a professional association. The author tackled the question by subjecting the SRTA to various definitions of unionism and professionalism, and by examining the operational behaviour of the teacher organization. He found that with respect to the definitions of the terms, the SRTA could be called a union or a professional association per se. However, the author argues that although the organization exhibited traits of unionism and/or professionalism throughout its evolution, the SRTA was closer to a union than to a professional association. In 1992, all schools in the Richelieu Valley and the South Shore were incorporated into South Shore Protestant Regional School Board. That board was dissolved in 1998.

Master's Thesis

McGill University

Montreal

1981

[vi]-95-[53] p.

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