The B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) have reached a tentative Memorandum of Agreement on a collective agreement that would remain in effect into 2019, the Ministry of Education announced Saturday.
The BCTF will put the agreement forward for ratification by its members over the coming week. Details of the MOA will be available once the BCTF ratification process is complete, the MOE said in a news release.
““The BCTF Executive Committee has endorsed the tentative agreement and is recommending ratification to our members,” said Glen Hansman, BCTF president. ““The tentative agreement, if ratified, will allow the next school year to start with thousands more teachers, smaller class sizes, better class composition, and specialist-teacher ratios.”
The contract negotiation was triggered by a judgement of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016, which mandated the province restore bargaining language on class size and composition stripped by the government in 2002.
A Letter of Understanding (LoU No. 17), drafted during negotiations for the 2013-2019 collective agreement between the BCTF and BCPSEA, mandated the parties reopen the collective agreement should the final court judgement “affect the content of the collective agreement by fully or partially restoring the 2002 language …”
The LoU further required the parties bargain from the restored language, and assured education fund provisions would remain in place until there is a final agreement regarding implementation and/or changes to the restored language.”
“Given the Court’s restoration of nearly 1,400 clauses across 60 collective agreements, it was important for the parties to determine how to implement the restored language within the context of an education system that had evolved over the past 15 years,” said Mike Bernier, Minister of Education. “The tentative MoA provides clarity related to class size and composition, non-enrolling staff and process language that are now restored.”
LoU No.17 negotiations began on Nov. 30, 2016 and spanned 27 bargaining sessions, the ministry release noted.
“I want to congratulate the parties and thank them for the significant effort and professionalism that was brought to the table,” said Bernier. “The parties had to deal with some very complex issues, it involved a lot of work, and everyone remained focused on problem-solving. We hope to build on this constructive approach and relationship in the years ahead.”
In January, the government announced $100 million for up to 1,100 new teachers province-wide, part of an interim agreement with the BCTF that anticipated a revised collective agreement.
