Details released about bill aimed at ending labour dispute with teachers

Proposed legislation would impose a new four-year contract for Nova Scotia’s 9,300 teachers and result in an end to their union’s legal strike position.

The province’s Liberal government unveiled the contract Tuesday as part of the Teachers Professional Agreement and Classroom Improvement Act, which, once passed, would end the 16-month long contract dispute.

The new contract contains a three per cent salary increase and incorporates much of the elements contained in the first two tentative agreements rejected by members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. A third tentative deal was rejected last week by a vote of 78.5 per cent, prompting the government to push ahead with a legislated settlement.

“For more than two months, this impasse and continued work-to-rule strike action have had a negative impact on our students, our families, our teachers and our communities,” Education Minister Karen Casey said. “It cannot continue.”

The salary package includes zero per cent for the first two years, followed by increases of one per cent in the third year and 1.5 per cent in the fourth, with a 0.5 per cent increase on the last day of the agreement.

Casey said it’s the same wage pattern teachers rejected in the first deal, although by a smaller margin than in subsequent votes, and that’s why it was adopted by the government.

The bill also establishes a council to improve classroom conditions and a commitment of $20 million over two years to address that issue.

There will also be a three-person commission on inclusive education that will be launched 30 days after the bill is passed. The commission is expected to submit an interim report by June 30, which will leave enough time for recommendations to be implemented for the upcoming school year.

Casey said she believed teachers would see that the government is serious about working with them to address their classroom concerns.

“Students need supports, teachers need supports, and we believe that this legislation and the structure of this legislation will allow that to happen,” she said.

But union president Liette Doucet said her membership would be angered by the imposition of a deal that actually loses the minor gains contained in the most recently rejected deal.

“They were already upset about the fact that they were not getting a cost of living increase and so now that has been made worse,” she said.

Doucet also said there were no concrete steps taken to immediately remedy classroom concerns.

“There are no significant classroom improvements in this bill at all,” Doucet said.