Vaughn Palmer: Saanich school deal stays within provincial mandate, but teachers union a tougher adversary
Credit to Author: Stephen Snelgrove| Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 04:03:39 +0000
VICTORIA — The New Democrats breathed a collective sigh of relief on the weekend at the sudden settlement of a three-week strike by support workers in Saanich school district.
The provincial government had been under increasing pressure to intervene — with money, ministerial action or both — as the strike headed toward its fourth week.
Dean Coates, president of CUPE Local 441 representing the support workers, urged the New Democrats to top up the bargaining mandate by as much as $3 million to provide redress for the low wages earned by his members.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation backed the strike, saying support workers were seeking low wage redress not unlike teachers themselves.
Even the NDP’s partner in power sharing, the Green party, urged the government to revise its hold-the-line stance.
“The provincial negotiating framework lacks the flexibility the school board requires to address the situation,” said Green MLA Adam Olsen, whose Saanich North constituency overlaps the school district. “It appears to back workers into a corner with conditions that punish them for advancing their interests.”
But the New Democrats stood their ground.
Education Minister Rob Fleming defended the bargaining mandate, with its cap on increases in wages and benefits of two per cent a year for each of three years.
The mandate had already been successful in reaching settlements with unions representing 250,000 public servants, he emphasized, adding that the group included workers in 53 other CUPE locals.
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Finance Minister Carole James made it clear that no more money would be coming from the provincial treasury.
“Nurses, paramedics, care aides and social workers have all reached deals within the mandate, and CUPE 441 can, too.” said the statement from her ministry as the strike approached its third week.
At about that time, Premier John Horgan sent a message to the support workers regarding a recently tabled last offer from the district.
The district had tried to redress low wages for some support workers by transferring money from other parts of the overall agreement, while still sticking within the global mandate.
“We’ve had a fair offer made to the members,” said Horgan. “The offer is superior to the offer that has been ratified by districts right across the province. “I would suggest that the members of CUPE, if they had the opportunity to vote on the package, would accept it.
“That would be what my recommendation would be,” added the premier, all the while saying that “I’m interfering by saying that.”
The Labour Code does allow the labour minister to order a vote when the leadership of a union balks at putting a “last offer” to its members.
But at the end of the day, Horgan didn’t need to call on Labour Minister Harry Bains to order a vote.
Instead, the district and the union put together a deal that was fully inside the bargaining mandate. It was based largely on the last offer from the district with a few face-saving tweaks for the local union leader. The strikers ratified the terms by a vote of 84 per cent.
“This agreement will give significant wage increases to positions that were underfunded for years,” declared Education Minister Fleming in celebrating the settlement in the legislature Monday. “Educational assistants will be receiving a 13 per cent wage increase to address those historic inequities.”
The union also gained clarity on how its members could benefit from a provincial job evaluation process, according to Fleming.
He made a point of thanking the provincial and national leadership of CUPE “for their assistance through this process.”
The comment tended to confirm suspicions that more senior union leaders had helped persuade the local president to recommend a settlement that was not substantially different from the district’s last offer.
Barely had Fleming got through boasting about the good deal for the support workers when he was on the receiving end of another blast from Green MLA Olsen, this time on behalf of the teachers’ federation.
“The BCTF is still without a contract,” Olsen reminded the education minister. “They’ve been bargaining for over 70 days, and recently, the mediator’s recommendations were rejected.”
Olsen and his colleagues in the Greens saw the education minister and the New Democrats headed down the same road as the previous B.C. Liberal government.
“His government has maintained a very similar negotiating mandate to his predecessor — a mandate that this government, when in opposition, was deeply critical of,” challenged Olsen. “Please help us understand how your government expects this will achieve a different result?”
Fleming made a show of thanking Olsen for his question, “if only because it’s an opportunity to clarify some of the misconceptions that he raises.”
He then hit the Green MLA with every talking point in his briefing notes, starting with the NDP’s $1 billion top-up to education funding, enough to fill 4,000 teaching positions and another 1,000 education assistants. Also enough to fund the lowest class sizes ever in the Saanich school district.
But Olsen was still shaking his head in disbelief when Fleming sat down. I wondered if the house was witnessing an emerging breach between New Democrats and Greens over the BCTF.
The union seeks a contract that in government’s estimation goes well beyond the bargaining mandate. The New Democrats are determined not to budge.
Perhaps Olsen was signalling to the teachers that if they can’t get what they want from the New Democrats, they should switch allegiance to the Greens.
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