Teacher contract negotiations normally rarely hit the news unless the talks go off the rails. With the school year approaching in August, deals emerge in an atmosphere of urgency where both the provincial government and the unions seek to avert back-to-school disruptions. Except for the protracted, bitter 2013-14 British Columbia teachers’ strike and lock-out, government-union negotiating teams much prefer to settle critical contract matters behind closed doors. Until the current round, the Nova Scotia government and the provincial teacher union, the NSTU, kept everything under wraps and the public completely in the dark.
A recent flurry of teacher union settlements in Canada’s largest province may have changed all that. Premier Kathleen Wynne set out to secure “net-zero” salary contracts, then reached an 11th hour deal with the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation (OSSTF) in late August 2015 for 2.5% over the next two years, including an additional paid holiday and improved sick leave. That OSSTF deal set the benchmark and appeared to provide the framework for deals with Ontario’s other teachers’ unions.
Pulling deals out of the fire on the eve of the school year raised suspicions about the avowedly teacher-friendly Wynne Government. (more...)
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