The protracted labour dispute between the provincial government and B.C. teachers may finally have come to a close at least for a while.
The B.C. Teachers Federation and the B.C Public School Employers Association reached a tentative agreement late Tuesday night.
The deal does not include any of the teachers requests for salary increases or more control over class size and composition, but it does offer some increases in benefits and control over professional development and teacher evaluation. The agreement means things this coming school year should be more or less back to normal, according to the province.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday morning, Premier Christy Clark and Education Minister George Abbott thanked all the parties involved in negotiation and mediation over the last year. The result has been a win-win, Clark said.
The most important (thing is) students and parents are going to have some certainly over the next year, said the Premier. I think a lot of kids and parents were looking forward to that, and we achieved that.
By sticking to the net-zero mandate of no increase in budget, taxpayers have been protected in the deal, she added.
But the agreement only extends the teachers contract until June 2013 one month after the next provincial election. Negotiations for the next contract are expected to kick off just before the provincial parties begin campaigning.
Regardless of who is elected, the teachers and the government will need to have a less antagonistic relationship than they have had for the last 40 years, said Abbot.
The tone from the teachers union was less celebratory. In a statement released Tuesday, BCTF President Susan Lambert said the union won some small victories, but the real drive to reach an agreement was to prevent the government from assigning a less favourable contract.
After a long and difficult round of negotiations, we were compelled into this process under threat of huge fines and further punitive legislation, Lambert said. Weve concluded this agreement in order to prevent government from imposing a contract that would further erode teachers hard-won rights and do more harm to students learning conditions, Lambert said.
The labour dispute over the last year has seen varying levels of job action being taken by teachers from strikes to refusal to participate in extracurricular activities and administrative duties. Report cards are being sent home or made available at schools on the North Shore this week.
The teachers union is expected to vote on the agreement on Friday.
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