Some teachers unhappy with third tentative deal with Nova Scotia government

According to highlights of the deal posted on the CBC website, there are provisions that provide $20 million for a partnership between teachers, government and school boards to work on improving classroom working conditions.

However, if there is disagreement over how the money is to be spent, an arbitrator would be brought in.

There is also an additional $12.7 million to pay for increased marking and preparation time for teachers.

In addition, the agreement calls for the creation of a commission to review issues surrounding the resources provided to include special needs students in classrooms, with representatives from the province, the union and an independent outsider.

However, Wozney said the province’s main shift has been to offer the two extra days off — which he says is about one per cent of his annual teaching time.

“They (the public) will focus on the fact that after teachers very publicly and loudly, with the support of thousands of parents and students, said we’re going to stand up and fight for measures that improve classrooms for teachers and students now, and the defining feature of the deal is two more days off,” he said.

Finance Minister Randy Delorey refused specific comment on the teachers’ tentative agreement during the announcement of the province’s 2017-18 capital plan Wednesday.

But he insisted that what was negotiated at the table was affordable.

“We have a commitment to work towards and negotiate settlements that fit within our fiscal plan,” said Delorey. “I can confirm that the tentative agreement that was reached does fall within the fiscal plan.”

Wozney said the difficulty with the deal’s creation of an inclusion committee is that there’s no guarantee the province would act on recommendations that would require additional funding or set staff ratios.

While the public conversation in the dispute has often centred around wages and “classroom conditions” — a phrase often used to describe everything from class size to the amount of reporting and data entry work a teacher has to do — the inclusion issue has percolated below the surface.

Education consultants and life-long teachers told The Canadian Press in interviews that classrooms composed of students with a range of mental, physical, behavioural and learning challenges is a major concern and teachers are struggling with a lack of time, training and resources.

Teachers have twice rejected contract agreements recommended by the union executive and voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike.

Union president Liette Doucet has said the latest deal struck on Friday — resulting in a suspension of the work-to-rule campaign — has improvements, and she has called it “better than the last” agreement.

She was not immediately available for further comment Wednesday.

According to the union, the deal changes the way a three per cent wage increase over four years is spread out, resulting in the wage freeze lasting 20 months, rather than two years — meaning teachers would get a two per cent wage increase this April and one per cent next year, while they would get no wage increases for the prior two years.

Wozney said the wage proposal is another key reason he objects to the agreement, as it essentially accepts the government’s wage program, which it had made clear it could legislate if public sector workers don’t agree to it.

Wozney said the union’s failure to retain the long-term service award — a lump sum given to retiring teachers — will be very unpopular with the membership. He said it had helped make up for the end of indexing of pensions in recent years.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Some teachers unhappy with third tentative deal with Nova Scotia government

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