Teachers from St. Mary Catholic School and trustees from Evergreen Catholic Separate Regional Division No. 2 have signed off on the province’s proposed four-year teacher labour deal.
St. Mary Catholic School Alberta Teachers’ Association representative Vance Nakonechny said it remains unclear what percentage of teachers within the Evergreen School Division umbrella voted in favour of the contract in Spruce Grove on April 19.
Pembina Hills school division trustees voted in favour of the new deal on April 10, while 80 per cent of Pembina Hills’ teachers voted ‘yes’ to deal on April 3.
“We did vote as a committee to recommend it,” Nakonechny said.
“We don’t think it’s a great deal for teachers, but I think given the economic climate in Alberta, it’s probably the best one we’re going to get.”
The tentative framework agreement arrived after roughly two and a half years of negotiating.
It sees no raises for the first three years and a two per cent raise during the fourth year, plus a one-time one-per-cent lump sum payment.
“It’s good to know what the landscape is going to be,” Nakonechny added.
“The economic climate is what it is.”
However, the bright side is that the new agreement prevents the government from altering collective bargaining rights for teachers while the contract is in effect and it set the first ever province-wide limit of instructional time to 907 hours each year.
“The Evergreen Catholic School Board of trustees voted unanimously to support the framework agreement because we believe it provides labour peace in a fiscally challenging time,” school board chair Robert Vasseur stated.
“We are pleased the board and teachers are working together to provide stability for our students into 2015. We value our teacher and will make every effort to fairly assess teacher workloads.”
Many teachers throughout the province have asked for clarification about what the new deal would mean, how it will impact students and what process was used to determine the framework without engaging teachers in the process.
“It’s kind of funny that you’ve got school boards and you’ve got teachers, but ultimately it’s the province holding the purse strings,” said Nakonechny.
“We’re both, I don’t want to say powerless, but we are being dictated to in some respect.”
He added it wasn’t a negotiation, it was an offer from the province and probably the best one teachers could hope for at this point in time — a sentiment shared by Pembina Hills school division ATA representative Perry Kulmatyski.
It’s still unknown what will happen if the vote isn’t unanimously accepted by all 62 ATA bargaining units across the province, however, a province-wide deadline to ratify the deal is set for Monday, May 13.
