The ésyndicaleéAssociation pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) was a Canadian student union founded in February 2001 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, which contained about 56,000 CEGEP and university-level students in 34 member student unions throughout Quebec. The ASSÉ positioned itself distinctly from the other province-wide student unions, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) and the Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ), namely rejecting hierarchical leadership structures in favor of autonomous and horizontal approaches.
The ASSÉ formed the core of the Coalition large de l'ASSÉ (CLASSE), a temporary coalition created to counter the tuition hike and coordinate 2012 Quebec student protests.
The organization was dissolved on May 31, 2019, a decision adopted in congress on April 28, 2019. A transition committee was also formed on this date.
Philosophy
The Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante advocated for free education at all levels and for all, including the abolition of student debt, conservation of quality post-secondary education, and the democratization of schools, while opposing the commodification of education.
It deployed mass mobilization as a catalyst for social change, favouring local general assemblies as decision-making structures as opposed to referendums, considered less democratic.
It also fought for responsible taxation, the defense of minority rights, the promotion of alter-globalization, demilitarization, implementation of public housing policy, and the irrevocable right to dissidence.
The basic principles of the ASSÉ lie on the foundations of student unionism as established in Article 1 of the Charter of Grenoble in 1946. The charter stipulates that the student is a young intellectual worker. Thus, students must be associated on a union basis. The ASSÉ believes in the necessity of fighting to save the gains made by past student movements, as well as to make new gains, through permanent protest. Considering education as a right rather than as a privilege, the ASSÉ is based on the following principles:
1. For quality, free, accessible, secular, non-discriminatory public education;
2. For adequate financial aid whose aim is to eliminate student debt and ensure that fundamental needs are met;
3. For a public education network free from private-sector intrusion, including contract manufacturing;
4. For democratisation of educational institutions from a perspective of self-management;
5. For union solidarity with all international progressive fights whose aim is society's well-being;
6. Against any and all forms of globalisation that support the predominance of profit over the population's well-being
7. For a combative feminism aiming to abolish patriarchy and all forms of oppression and discrimination.
Member associations
College-level
Association générale des étudiants du collège André-Laurendeau (AGECAL) Association étudiante du collège de Valleyfield (AGECoV) Association étudiante du cégep de Saint-Félicien (AECSF) Association étudiante du Cégep de Matane (AECM) Association étudiante du Cégep de Sherbrooke (AÉCS) Association étudiante du Cégep Saint-Laurent (AECSL) Association générale étudiante du Cégep de Drummondville (AGECD) Association générale des étudiantes et étudiants du Collège Lionel-Groulx (AGEECLG) Association générale étudiante du Cégep de Saint-Jérôme (AGES) Syndicat Étudiant du Cégep Marie-Victorin (SECMV) Société générale des étudiantes et des étudiants du collège de Maisonneuve (SOGÉÉCOM)