With the Liberals in for another term, Premier Christy Clark is putting her 10-year-plan for "labour peace" with teachers back on the table, and the Burnaby Teachers' Association is none too pleased.
A 10-year-collective agreement between the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, (the bargaining arm of the provincial government) was part of the Liberal party platform, but the president of the local teachers' union branch characterized the "10-year-no-plan" as union busting.
"If you put someone in a 10year-deal, you make the union irrelevant," said James Sanyshyn, Burnaby Teachers' Association. "You also make the employer irrelevant. I see it as a huge power grab on part of the province. They would like to usurp the roles of unions and their local employers (the school boards) to hammer out working and learning conditions, I'd say it's quite a sneaky move."
The teachers and provincial government typically negotiate a two-or three-year contract, but Clark's plan calls for a decade-long agreement. In a January press release, Clark pitched the idea as a way to provide stability for students.
"Imagine the opportunities for students, parents and teachers in the classroom knowing classrooms would always be open," she said, referring to the federation's job actions over the years. "This isn't about the adults - it's about what's best for students."
The 10-year-agreement plan calls for a new council of stakeholders to advise government on education policy, something Sanyshyn takes issue with. The local association and the federation want improvements to class size and composition (meaning the number of special needs students in each class) enshrined in the collective agreement, not negotiated at a policy table.
"Policy table is not bargaining, it's consultation," Sanyshyn said. "We would have to give up our rights to bargain class size and composition for this 10year-deal, so that's a no-starter."
Teachers' salaries would be indexed to an average of other public sector raises, something Sanyshyn also has concerns about.
"If they chose to give no increase to public sector unions for wages, then the average of zero is zero," Sanyshyn said.
The plan also includes a $100 million priority education fund, available by the third year of the agreement. The funds are earmarked to address "education priorities," yet Sanyshyn still raised concerns about a lack of money accompanying the deal.
"It's going to be stormy times in education into the fall," he said. "What you're going to see is continued erosion. Next year, the (Burnaby school) board is projecting a deficit of over $7 million, and the year after that it's over $9 million. So what we'll see is continued erosion of learning conditions for students. You'll see larger classes, you'll see classes that have too many special needs students in them. There isn't a funding envelope that will address those issues in the collective agreement, it's actually only on a policy table, and of course revenues dry up." he said.
The association and the teachers' federation are currently at the bargaining table, as their current contract expires on June 30. Sanyshyn also suggested the federation could join forces with another union.
On May 24, deputy education minister James Gorman wrote letters to the association and the federation about the change of bargaining direction, given the provincial election outcome. To see both, go to Jennifer Moreau's blog, at www.burnabynow.com.
