BCTF: 2011 March 1
In a recent speech at the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) AGM, BCTF President Susan Lambert, emphasized our determination to renegotiate the split of issues, and our desire for a constructive round of local and provincial bargaining. The BCTF plan is for salary, benefits, hours of work, and paid leaves to be at the provincial table with all other items negotiated at local tables.
Not since provincial bargaining was imposed in 1994 have locals had the opportunity to update “stale” clauses, and to revise and enhance provisions to more adequately address today’s teaching environment. No progress has been possible in improving working conditions, personnel practices, and professional rights including professional development.
Teacher salaries in BC continue to lag further behind most other provinces. In Vancouver, the city with the highest cost of living in Canada, we are $9,981 behind our colleagues in Toronto (5 max.). Closer to home the situation is even worse. At 5 max., we are currently $11,311 behind our colleagues in Calgary and $11,580 behind teachers in Edmonton (where 5 max. will rise to $95,135, and 6 max. to over $100,000 in September 2011). In addition teachers in elementary schools in Toronto get 220 (increasing to 240 in 2012) minutes of prep time per week.
Other occupations traditionally compared with teachers are also outpacing us. Police, firefighters, and nurses have higher starting and maximum salaries than our category 5 in Vancouver.
The October 2010 BCTF Bargaining Conference set as a salary objective parity with teachers in Alberta and Ontario. Teachers need and deserve to be paid fairly and in keeping with our colleagues in the rest of Canada. We have been subjected to government wage freezes and legislated settlements for over a decade. We cannot allow the decline in our salaries to continue.
Bills 27 and 28 enacted in January 2002, which eliminated the class-size and class-composition limits in the provincial collective agreement were challenged in BC Supreme Court. We await the result and hope that the unjust contract stripping of class-size and composition ratios (for learning assistance, ESL, counsellors, teacher-librarians) will be declared illegal. Locals would then be empowered to at least pursue the manner and consequences of the implementation of the class-size/composition limits that currently exist in legislation. Students’ learning conditions are our working conditions.
Teachers will not accept another legislated collective agreement. We want a fair deal at the bargaining table.
Not since provincial bargaining was imposed in 1994 have locals had the opportunity to update “stale” clauses, and to revise and enhance provisions to more adequately address today’s teaching environment. No progress has been possible in improving working conditions, personnel practices, and professional rights including professional development.
Teacher salaries in BC continue to lag further behind most other provinces. In Vancouver, the city with the highest cost of living in Canada, we are $9,981 behind our colleagues in Toronto (5 max.). Closer to home the situation is even worse. At 5 max., we are currently $11,311 behind our colleagues in Calgary and $11,580 behind teachers in Edmonton (where 5 max. will rise to $95,135, and 6 max. to over $100,000 in September 2011). In addition teachers in elementary schools in Toronto get 220 (increasing to 240 in 2012) minutes of prep time per week.
Other occupations traditionally compared with teachers are also outpacing us. Police, firefighters, and nurses have higher starting and maximum salaries than our category 5 in Vancouver.
The October 2010 BCTF Bargaining Conference set as a salary objective parity with teachers in Alberta and Ontario. Teachers need and deserve to be paid fairly and in keeping with our colleagues in the rest of Canada. We have been subjected to government wage freezes and legislated settlements for over a decade. We cannot allow the decline in our salaries to continue.
Bills 27 and 28 enacted in January 2002, which eliminated the class-size and class-composition limits in the provincial collective agreement were challenged in BC Supreme Court. We await the result and hope that the unjust contract stripping of class-size and composition ratios (for learning assistance, ESL, counsellors, teacher-librarians) will be declared illegal. Locals would then be empowered to at least pursue the manner and consequences of the implementation of the class-size/composition limits that currently exist in legislation. Students’ learning conditions are our working conditions.
Teachers will not accept another legislated collective agreement. We want a fair deal at the bargaining table.
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