Hopes high for teachers' deal
Tentative settlement reached between
government and Nunavut Teachers' Association
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 12, 2014
IQALUIT
Terms of a new agreement between the Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Teachers' Association have begun trickling out, a week after a deal was reached between both parties.
The tentative settlement on a new collective agreement was reached April 28 and the news shared publicly on May 6 by way of a GN news release.
Details were sparse because the agreement is still subject to ratification by both parties, but teachers' association president Terry Young shed some light on some of the details in the deal.
"We think it's a fair and reasonable agreement," he said.
"We've been offered three per cent, two per cent, one per cent and one per cent wage increases over the four years of the agreement. We've checked with other jurisdictions across Canada and it's way above the average in other provinces and territories. We think it's a very reasonable and fair deal."
The previous collective agreement expired June 2013 and negotiations began immediately to establish a new one.
Young said getting three per cent up front makes a big difference.
These types of contract negotiations can sometimes take a "bad track," he added, but said the government was fair and reasonable throughout the proceedings.
As recently as 2010, both organizations were bogged down in discussions about wages and benefits.
The teachers' association membership went roughly 20 months without a new collective agreement - from June 2009 to Feb. 2011 - while the GN proposed a zero wage increase for the duration of the deal.
In the end, the new agreement featured wage increases of 4.5 per cent (2009), two per cent (2010), two per cent (2011) and 2.5 per cent (2012).
Young said members of the union will vote on the proposed agreement from May 20 to 22.
"We (the executive of the NTA) are recommending acceptance," he said.
"After teachers vote it'll go to the financial management board of the government. I would suggest that if teachers accept it, the financial board will accept it too. Then, in mid-June, we'll be able to tell whether it passed through both parties."
The NTA represents approximately 850 full-time employees.
