NORTH Shore public schools should be back to normal next year after provincial government and B.C. teachers reached a tentative deal Tuesday night.
The agreement between the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the B.C Public School Employers Association, if ratified by union members Friday, will put an end to a protracted labour dispute that saw a brief walk-out earlier this year and a months-long suspension of extracurricular activities.
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 business as usual, 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, the deal has protected taxpayers as well, 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.
The North Shore's two teachers' associations said they viewed the deal with mixed emotions: They were happy to have some stability over the coming year, but disappointed that few gains were made during such a trying bargaining process.
"Overall, I'm reasonably pleased we could get a negotiated agreement without going into the fall with more uncertainty," said Daniel Storms, North Vancouver Teachers' Association president.
With the next contract set to expire in a year, Storms said the government needs to allow a more free collective bargaining process, something teachers were denied this time.
"Bargaining is about building relationships and common ground, and if you take that out at outset, how do you recreate it? They have to wear that," he said.
West Van's teachers will likely vote to ratify the agreement, but issues of cost-of-living increases and classroom size will be back in a year, according to Robert Millard, West Vancouver Teachers' Association president.
"I think it's not what the teachers want, but considering the circumstances we're under, it's probably the best they can get at this particular time," he said. "A lot of teachers that I've talked to this morning are pretty disappointed about that, but it's been a long year."
Both groups are, by rule, non-partisan, but the last decade has seen tensions between teachers and the ministry ratcheted up, Millard said.
Should the New Democrats take the legislature in 2013, as today's polls indicate they will, Millard expects teachers will have a more sympathetic ear at the bargaining table. But that doesn't mean teachers will become the government's top priority.
"If (they do) get elected, they're going to have to look at the books. It's not going to be 'everything's OK' just because they got into power."
The labour dispute over the last year has seen teachers take varying levels of job action 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.
Teachers are expected to vote on the agreement on Thursday and Friday.
