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'Both Sides Have to Move' Says Teachers' Union, Trimming Demands

New offer would cost $300 million more next year. Province sticks to 'net zero.'

Katie Hyslop 18 Jan 2012TheTyee.ca

Katie Hyslop covers education for The Tyee and the Tyee Solutions Society. Read her previous articles here.

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Staff at John Barsby Community School in Nanaimo appealing to drivers in November.

The BC Teachers' Federation announced bargaining concessions yesterday that they say could break up the "logjam" in the stalled contract negotiations with their government employer, including dropping guaranteed minimum wages for their lowest paid members in exchange for a salary increase.

Teachers say it's now government's turn to chip away at their own demands, claiming their employer hasn't moved an inch since negotiations began last March.

"We know how to compromise, we know how to bargain, we know how to negotiate. It means you reach a mutually acceptable compromise. That means both sides have to move," Susan Lambert, president of the BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF), told a press conference on Tuesday. "We're taking that initiative today, and what we hope is that this will stir government to doing the same."

But the BC Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA), the government's bargaining agent in this fight, says they have made concessions -- eight in all -- and government says they're not making any more changes until the teachers accept their net-zero mandate.

BCTF volleys ball into government's court

Unlike most of us by now, the BCTF remembers their New Year's resolution: trying "as earnestly and honestly" as they can to sign a collective agreement with the BCPSEA this year.

Their first step towards this goal came Tuesday when they finally tabled a salary proposal, ending months of speculation over how much money they were asking for when comparing themselves to other provinces, like Alberta, which pay their teachers more.

The new proposal outlines a three-year contract, with the first year's wages going up by three per cent -- equal to the cost of living adjustment according to the union -- and then an additional three per cent in years two and three. Lambert says this will cost the government about $300 million, including the cost of benefits, for the first year.

"It's a big figure. It's a lot of money," Lambert admits, but says public teachers are responsible for the education of almost every child in the province. "It's a labour-intensive endeavour. Our schools serve the entire province. Quality public education is the most important investment a society can make. It's an investment in our future."

And $300 million, Lambert adds, is less than the $336 million per year government stripped from public education funding through Bills 27 and 28 in 2002.

In return, Lambert says the bargaining team has dropped several proposals they asked for in previous bargaining packages, including a guaranteed minimum wage for teachers on call, paid professional development leave, an early retirement incentive program, leave for third-party care and paring down discretionary leave from six days to one.

Bereavement leave has also been removed from the proposals, and Lambert says a new, mutually agreed upon definition will be hammered out at the bargaining table.

Now the union says the ball is in government's court, asking Education Minister George Abbott to make some concessions of his own.

"We are calling on Minister Abbott to give BCPSEA a new mandate to reach a fair settlement and to stop speculating about imposing a legislated contract," Lambert told the media, just an hour before teachers returned to the bargaining table to present the government with their new package.

Bargaining across a chasm

Mel Joy, chairwoman of BCPSEA, couldn't comment directly on the BCTF's new package when she spoke to The Tyee because she says the union presented it to the media before they showed it to their employers.

But she disagrees with the union that government hasn't moved from its original proposals, saying they dropped proposals last November.

"On November 22, we had taken things out of our proposal and then gave them a new package. So that was our one movement of compromise," Joy told The Tyee.

"But so far the BCTF has not yet wanted to get into a discussion on our proposals and have stated that they will not until the net-zero mandate is changed. We don't even get a chance to discuss the proposals that the employer has -- that discussion is closed at the bargaining table."

For his part, Minister Abbott says unless Finance Minister Kevin Falcon changes his stance on the net-zero mandate for all public sector employees, the BCTF's proposal is still a great deal away from government's firm position.

"This proposal is much too distant from net zero to be workable as a proposal in and of itself," he said during a teleconference late Tuesday afternoon. He says the salary increase is similar to the 16 per cent teachers got in five years during this last collective agreement, except this time it would be paid out in three years.

No decision yet on back-to-work legislation: Abbott

When asked if government was closer to intervening, Abbott expressed concern that it was close to a year since any child received a full report card, and that school administration had been saddled with extra work because of the teachers' job action. However, while Abbott was referring to the fact that bargaining began last March, the teachers didn't vote on the job action until June and didn't implement it until the following September.

But when The Tyee asked how legislating teachers back to work would affect government's relationship with teachers, Abbott said it was premature to assume that would be the outcome.

"Government has not made that decision yet, and of course I'll be sharing that decision if and when it should be made," he said.

"Looking back over the balance of 30 years, imposing legislated solutions are far more common. It's not that these are unknown, but when those occur it takes a troubled 40-year bad marriage and continues that on for a period of time until the parties can start to talk again."

All parties agree about their desire to reach a mutually agreeable collective agreement through negotiations. But with hundreds of millions of dollars still between the government and the BCTF, and both sides standing firm despite insisting the other refuses to meet halfway, it looks increasingly doubtful the teachers will get to keep their New Year's resolution.

[Tags: Education, Labour & Industry.]  [Tyee]

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