Tentative deal reached in the BCTF dispute
By Nelson Daily Staff
Generally in a contract dispute, both sides generally give a little to get a deal.
Not so in the dispute between the B.C. Teachers Federation and the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association said BCTF president Susan Lambert.
“After a long and difficult round of negotiations, we were compelled into this process under threat of huge fines and further punitive legislation,” said Lambert said on the BCTF website Tuesday.
Premier Christy Clark was pleased to see the two sides come to an agreement, with no wage increases.
“I would like to congratulate the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association and the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation on reaching a tentative Memorandum of Settlement,” Clark said on the government website.
“In particular, I want to acknowledge the work of mediator Dr. Charles Jago and Education Minister George Abbott in reaching a fair deal that falls under our net zero mandate, as the government remains committed to balancing the budget.”
The agreement, which runs until June 2013, falls in line with the Liberal government net zero mandate, but leaves important items unresolved according to the BCTF — class size and composition and wage gap between B.C. teachers’ salaries and those in other regions of the country said Lambert.
“We’ve concluded this agreement in order to prevent government from imposing a contract that would further erode teachers’ hard-won rights and do more harm to students’ learning conditions,” Lambert said.
The 41,000 teachers in the province have been without a contract for more than one year and have been engaged in an often acrimonious dispute with the government throughout the school year, including a three-day strike prior to the spring break holiday in March.
The strike followed introduction of a bill in the provincial legislature forcing contract mediation on the teachers.
Teachers across the province commenced voting on the tentative agreement Wednesday and Thursday.
Results will be announced Friday evening.
