B.C. teachers and government start mediated negotiations
Credit to Author: Rob Shaw| Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2019 22:58:23 +0000
VICTORIA — B.C.’s teachers’ union and the province began mediated talks for a new contract on Wednesday, but parents won’t have to worry about any disruption to the start of the school year even if negotiations fail.
Teachers’ Federation president Teri Mooring said there is no scenario in which teachers would undertake job action or a strike before school begins on Sept. 3, even if mediation ends without a deal.
“We’re going to start the school year, regardless,” Mooring said. “What would be more comfortable for everyone, obviously, would be a collective agreement in place. And that’s our goal. Eight days of mediation is actually a lot of time.”
The collective agreement between teachers and government expired on June 30, but its terms carry on until a new contract is signed. Mediation is scheduled for eight days, with mediator David Schaub instituting a media blackout on specific proposals on the table.
Teachers are one of the last major public-sector unions yet to sign a new contract with the NDP government.
Finance Minister Carole James set a “sustainable services” mandate that requires unions to agree to a three-year term, with a two-per-cent annual wage increase, and the ability to negotiate side funding for service improvements in their sector.
So far, 68 per cent of B.C.’s 330,000 unionized public-sector employees have new deals, including major unions like the B.C. Government and Services Employees Union, Doctors of B.C., and nurses.
“We want the parties to reach a fair deal that works for students, parents and teachers,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement. “That’s why we’re pleased both sides have agreed to mediation. This is encouraging.
“We’re optimistic that the parties will find solutions and reach a deal that works for students, teachers, and everyone in the school system.”
Mooring said a new contract must address a “critical teacher shortage.” There’s not enough certified teachers to fill classrooms in north-central B.C. and on the north coast, she said. There also aren’t enough teachers left on the substitute list in southern Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver, which means special needs teachers often have to fill in to the detriment of their classes, said Mooring.
Teachers argue part of recruitment problem is that B.C. has the second-lowest starting salary in the country.
Also looming over the negotiations is the BCTF’s 2016 victory at the Supreme Court of Canada, which restored class size and composition language the previous Liberal government had improperly stripped from teacher contracts.
Both the previous Liberal and current NDP government have sought to renegotiate that language, claiming it is a complicated series of ratios and caps that vary by school district.
“We know that language is not set in stone, we know it’s open to negotiation, and that’s fine,” said Mooring. “But we’re not interested in having language negotiated the ends up making learning conditions in B.C. worse for students.”
If mediation doesn’t result in a deal, Mooring said the next step “would be to have some difficult conversations with our members” about how to proceed.
Contract negotiations between governments and teachers have been contentious for decades. It has been 32 years since B.C. teachers were given the right to strike. There were 48 strikes and three lockouts under local bargaining from 1987 to 1994. The system then switched to provincial bargaining, and since 1995 there has been four strikes, three legislated contracts, one legislated “cooling off period.” The last contract was negotiated with the previous Liberal government in March 2017.
“A significant issue in the past has been the acrimonious relationship between the BCTF and the Liberals, and even going back a few decades Social Credit, and that’s something that looms over talks like this,” said Jason Ellis, an associate professor at the University of B.C.’s department of educational studies.