British Columbia’s 49,000 public school teachers have reached a tentative three-year contract agreement with the province.
The BC Public School Employers’ Association announced the news of a tentative settlement with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation Monday morning.
The new contract, subject to teachers’ approval, follows guidelines established in the provincial government’s Shared Recovery Mandate, which prioritizes improvements in the province’s public services and heath-care system.
While contract details remain confidential, BCTF president Clint Johnston told CTV News in an email the new deal will result in annual pay raises of $10,000-$13,000 for the highest-paid teachers, which would boost some salaries beyond $100,000.
The agreement also bumps salaries for new teachers $6,000-$8,500, which would help the BCTF address recruitment and retention issues.
"If ratified, this agreement will take us from near the lowest paid teachers in Canada into the top tier,” Johnston said. “I am deeply grateful to the members of the team who worked so hard to get us to this point."
The BCTF represents about 1,000 members in Prince George.
“I was reading through it this morning and there’s a lot of good things for members and some things that address some equity issues we have with some benefits,” said Prince George District Teachers’ Association president Daryl Beauregard.
“It’s maybe not the cost-of-living adjustment a lot of the members were hoping for, particularly with inflation being what it is right now, but it’s still got a lot of good things.”
Beauregard, , who took over this year from Joanne Hapke as PGTDA president, learned of the settlement Sunday evening. He will discuss the deal this afternoon in a conference call with the provincial BCTF executive that involves the other 59 school district local presidents..
Negotiations began in February and there have been 50 days of negotiations leading up to the agreement Friday in Vancouver. Teachers have been without a contract since June 30.
“It was sooner than I thought,” said Beauregard. “Look at our history, I remember negotiations that have taken well over a year. That’s a nice thing.
“When you think about our history, we’ve had a lot of disappointments in a row and I’m hoping we’ll have enough in here for people to at least find something that works for them.
“The folks on our side are all volunteers, we’re not paid professional bargainers and the employer has that team,” he said. “These are people setting aside time away from their families and from their job to do this work and it’s a very hard process.”
Details of the agreement will be released in the coming weeks once the ratification process between union members and school district employers has been determined. A ratification vote is scheduled for Nov. 16-18. Each local will decide on the date of the vote.
