A tentative agreement has been reached between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the BC Public School Employers’ Association and, if ratified, Sunshine Coast schools will be back in session Monday, Sept. 22.
The tentative deal was hammered out after a weekend-long negotiating session at a Richmond hotel with mediator Vince Ready and announced in the early hours on Monday morning.
The BCTF urged members to accept the deal and a ratification vote was scheduled to take place on Thursday (Sept. 18), after Coast Reporter went to press.
If teachers accept the deal, school on the Coast will be back in session on Monday, according to School District No. 46 (SD46) superintendent of schools Patrick Bocking.
Students would follow the regular first day of school schedule, which is posted on the SD46 website at www.sd46.bc.ca.
Originally Sept. 22 was scheduled as a professional development day, but Bocking said it would be rescheduled so that school start-up isn’t delayed further.
Although school will start about three weeks late, Bocking said students won’t have to make up the lost days.
“The Ministry of Education has indicated to us that we will not have additional days added to the school year of 2014/15 to make up for the three weeks of this year,” Bocking said, adding, “there has been no talk of moving into the spring break.”
He said secondary school semesters may be adjusted to work better, but that “we will be working on what that might look like for our schools over the coming weeks.”
Sunshine Coast Teachers’ Association president Louise Herle said details of the contract, which were not released to the public before teachers could vote on it, were being sent out to teachers via email, picket line captains, the Internet and through conference calls before the vote on Sept. 18.
The results of that vote were expected at about 9 p.m. on Thursday night.
While complete contract details were not available at press time, BCTF president Jim Iker said the new six-year deal held “meaningful achievements for teachers and for students.”
“The tentative deal includes several hundred new teaching positions each year as a result of an annual education fund that will be used exclusively for bargaining unit members; a mutually agreed process to address any future court decision as well as a removal of article E-80; a significant grievance remedy fund that will be used as a one-time payment to our members and improvements in elementary preparation time; improvements in salary and extended health and dental benefits; fair pay for teachers teaching on call for every day that they work and also, no concessions,” Iker told reporters on Sept. 16.
He also said the deal leaves room for the BCTF court case about class size and composition to wind its way through the court system.
“We’re at the Court of Appeal, that’s going to be in October and there’s going to be a ruling at some point in time. For us an important piece of this collective agreement was ensuring there was going to be no negotiating away our court rights as well as the current victory we had on restoration, which is currently stayed because of the appeal, and any future court rulings,” Iker said.
“That has been protected.”
Premier Christy Clark addressed reporters this week saying the part of the agreement that deals with grievances and the court case was “a major step forward for both sides.”
When asked if the government would accept whatever judgement comes from the court in the future, Clark would not commit, however.
“I think it’s possible to disagree on some things and continue to have a functional relationship. That’s true with other unions in the province as well,” Clark said.
“Sometimes while we’re arguing over things in court we’re continuing to talk about the things that are important to us. I can’t predict what’s going to happen with that, but I’ll say we now have the space to talk.”