Premier targets teachers’ benefit package as dispute grows more fractious

He singled out the current long service award, a one-time payout upon retirement based on salary and the number of years worked.

“It is unfair to say we’re going to now give you a bonus to retire and that’s in essence what it (the long service award) is,” he told reporters.

NDP Leader Gary Burrill said the premier’s attack on benefits was a clear attempt to diminish teachers in the eyes of the public.

“To hold up repeatedly the structure of benefits of teachers . . . as though there were something undeserved, or nefarious, or even greedy — I find this a diminishment of teachers and exactly the wrong attitude to reach a settlement with,” said Burrill.

Burrill said the province should be prepared to go into deficit to give teachers a fair offer.

McNeil told reporters the government isn’t opposed to mediation, but it has to know whether there is the opportunity for a deal.

“We have laid out what we believe is a fair fiscal envelope and if they want more in salary or they want to keep the long service award, what are they bringing back to the table?”

McNeil downplayed suggestions that he’s become frustrated by the process, although he again wondered aloud about what it is teachers want. He said his government has been addressing classroom concerns, one of the teachers’ primary concerns.

“This is not where I thought we would be,” he said. “We have obviously missed the mark for some teachers.”

The latest deal, which teachers rejected early last month, called for a two year wage freeze followed by one per cent increase in the third year, 1.5 per cent in the fourth year and 0.5 per cent when the contract expires at the end of the fourth year.

The long service award for current teachers would also be frozen and wouldn’t be offered to new teachers.

McNeil also didn’t back down from his assertion that to pay teachers more, money would have to come out of vital areas such as health care. Teachers would have to make concessions to find money to make up the difference from their benefits, he said.

“The 35 per cent . . . for teachers that we don’t pay for anyone else when it comes to health benefits is $14 million. The long service award if we continue to allow it to grow is $7.5 million a year — where does that come from?”

The premier’s hardening stance is a marked change from a more conciliatory tone earlier in the dispute, and comes after both sides couldn’t agree on terms to seek conciliation earlier this week. It also comes as the government prepares to launch a television and Facebook video ad campaign to get its message out to the public.

Opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie said there is no downside for the government to accept mediation, and he questioned the premier’s assertion that more money for teachers would have to come from another part of the budget.

“That’s such a false choice to put before people,” said Baillie. “The premier is trying to tell people that if they want better classrooms they have to give up an emergency room, well that’s not the way it works.”

Meanwhile, Labour Minister Kelly Regan said Friday she was considering the union’s request for a mediator, but would need some indication from both sides that there is the prospect of some sort of resolution, including a possible contract settlement.

She said the appointment of a mediator would not prevent the teachers from taking job action by their Dec. 3 deadline, although both sides could agree that none would occur while mediation is underway.

There was no word on when Regan would make her decision.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Premier targets teachers’ benefit package as dispute grows more fractious

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