‘Room for compromise’

N.S. premier says meeting with teachers’ union head productive

Nova Scotia’s premier says there’s “room for us to compromise” in his government’s showdown with the province’s teachers union over education reforms.

“We have certain objectives, they have certain objectives,” Premier Stephen McNeil said after a meeting Monday with Liette Doucet, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

“We won’t agree on everything but I believe there is definitely room for us to compromise, so I said we would meet again.”

Doucet agreed the discussion was positive, in that both sides are willing to continue talking. There was no immediate word on when the next meeting would be.

“We want to make changes in the classroom and we want to make sure the changes are positive for our students, said Doucet.

“We really need to work together to develop trust with the government and that’s what we are looking to do.“

In a vote last week, more than 80 per cent of teachers endorsed strike action to protest the province’s decision to largely endorse reforms contained in a report by consultant Avis Glaze, including the removal of 1,000 principals, vice-principals and supervisors from the union.

The Glaze report also recommends eliminating the province’s seven English-language school boards and creating a provincial college of educators to license and regulate the teaching profession.

Any strike would be illegal — and teachers could face fines of up to $1,000 a day.