B.C. teachers and their employer are back at the bargaining table after the holidays, but the government's net-zero mandate seems to be the sticking point preventing any progress.
"The reality is, if you have a net zero mandate, you're bargaining with yourself," said Burnaby Teachers' Association president Richard Storch. "You're not really getting anything. You're just trading off things."
The provincial government implemented a "net-zero" wage increase for all negotiations with public sector employees between 2010 and 2012. The mandate means there's no new money being offered to teachers. If they want a pay increase, they need to take something away elsewhere to cover it.
Last spring, contract talks started between the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, the bargaining agent for the provincial government.
Teachers' concerns included salaries, class sizes and the number of special needs students.
The talks made little progress, and teachers went on a partial strike in September, refusing to do administrative work, such as writing report cards or meeting with principals. The move was designed to pressure the employer, and it seems to be working, according to BCPSEA spokesperson Melanie Joy.
"Districts are under a lot of pressure," Joy said. Administrative staff is doing more work, report cards are not going out, and there's a lack of communication between teachers and administrators, she added.
Meanwhile, BCPSEA managed to negotiate a tentative deal with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (the union representing school support workers) while sticking to the government's net-zero mandate, something Joy is upholding as an example.
"There have been approximately two-thirds of the public sector that have bargained within that (net-zero mandate)," she said, adding CUPE got some policy money but nothing for compensation increases. "It was bargained within the net zero."
The BCTF, on the other hand, has characterized the case as an exception to the net zero mandate and argued it puts pressure on the provincial government to revise its mandate with teachers.
"Nurses, anesthesiologists, police, firefighters, and now CUPE have all broken the net-zero mandate," said BCTF president Susan Lambert in a Dec. 16 media statement.
However, Richard Overgaard, a national communication representative for CUPE, said the deal falls within the netzero mandate because technically there was no increase in wages.
"But we were successful in getting $7.5 million for educational assistants," he said. "Yes, it's net-zero, but it also means a lot of our members are going to get paid more."
But, Joy said the BCTF wants the net zero mandate off the table.
"So far, the BCTF refuses to go into any conversation because of the net-zero mandate," Joy said.
The teachers' union has $2-billion in compensation increases (for leaves, retirements and bonuses) on the table, she added.
In an interview with the NOW, Lambert said the netzero mandate is the only blocking point.
"What government is doing is coming to the table with nothing," she said. "How can you negotiate with nothing? Collective bargaining is a matter of reaching a compromise."
Lambert said the BCTF would be open to a staged, implementation plan to raise teachers' salaries, in a way that's more affordable to government.
Both sides, however, hope the conflict will end.
"It's stultifying, it's very, very trying. It's frustrating on both sides," Lambert said.
"Coming into the new year, the morale kind of lowers," Joy said. "Everybody wants it to be over."
Storch is hoping bargaining will start soon.
"This scenario has been going on for a while, so unfortunately, I'm not that hopeful," he said.
WHAT DOES THE TEACHERS' STRIKE MEAN?
What does the teachers' job action cover? Burnaby Teachers' Association president Richard Storch explains:
- Teachers are not writing report cards or having parent-teacher interviews.
- Teachers are not attending meetings called by administration.
- Teachers do not need to accept written communication from administrators or send communication to administration.
- Extracurricular activities are not affected, so teachers are still staying after hours to help with things like sports teams.
- The teachers are not involved in the planning or collecting of money for fundraising for any school or charitable projects.
"This is the job action as outlined by the Labour Relations Board ruling, and members are encouraged to follow our job action. People are interpreting what it looks like differently," Storch said.
