B.C. teachers voted in favour of a new six-year collective agreement Thursday, with 86 per cent of teachers who cast ballots voting ‘yes.'
Results were announced at 9:30 p.m. during a BCTF press conference.
BCTF president Jim Iker said 31,741 teachers voted, with 27,275 in favour of the deal. There are about 41,000 teachers in B.C.
“With the ratification of the new collective agreement, the strike and lockout is over. Teachers and students will be back in school Monday,” Iker said. “To our members, our teachers – proud members of the BCTF -- thank-you. This was a tough round of negotiations and a difficult time for many of us on strike, but together we successfully pushed against concessions and we have merged as a strong and more engaged union. Your strength on the picket lines and your passion for our profession helped us make the gains this week that were not possible at any other point over the last three months.”
Teacher reaction has been mixed in the days leading up to the vote, but the BCTF executive urged members to vote in favour of the deal.
The BCTF and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association reached the agreement in the early morning hours of Sept. 16 with help from professional mediator Vince Ready.
The deal includes a 7.25 per cent pay raise for teachers over six years – the largest portion of the increase to take effect this month at a rate of two per cent, $108 million set aside to address class size and composition grievances, and an education fund of $400 million over five years to hire more teachers.
Students lost five weeks of classes during the labour dispute, which saw schools close two weeks early in June.
Iker said lost time won’t be made up. He conceded the negotiated settlement wasn’t “perfect” but said the vote result was a strong show of support for the collective agreement, “even though we know that we didn’t get everything we need in terms of our students and our members.”
Iker called the vote turnout “huge.”
“This vote had more people voting than our last four ratification votes,” he said. “This is a very high participation rate. If we had this high participation in our elections – provincial and federal, people would be really pleased and there would be a lot more engagement happening.”
Iker dismissed a suggestion that he would have to rebuild union members’ trust.
“Actually, we have the trust of our members. What this vote shows and what the strong stand that our members showed is their belief in what we were standing for on strike --- the fact that they were losing pay, the fact that they weren’t getting any strike pay and we stood strong together,” he said. “And, our members are more engaged than ever.”
The Vancouver School Board announced Thursday that school would start Monday, Sept. 22 if all parties ratified the agreement. All boards vote and it’s a weighted vote, VSB chair Patti Bacchus told the Courier. She said Vancouver counts for 14 votes and smaller districts have fewer depending on their size. Boards were told to have their ratification votes finished by Friday. Vancouver trustees voted ‘yes’ at an in camera meeting earlier tonight.
The first day of school will be a shortened day, followed by regular hours Tuesday for most students expect those in kindergarten who will follow a gradual entry process.
Any professional days originally planned for September are being re-scheduled to a later date in the school year. Those dates will be determined at the school level in consultation with staff and parents, according to the VSB.
Vancouver School Board chair Patti Bacchus told the Courier in an email after the BCTF vote result was announced that she is very happy teachers ratified the deal.
"I know this was a very hard contract to negotiate and government was very reluctant to budge at all. The funding challenges in education persist and we all need to keep advocating for adequate, stable and predictable funding as per my submission to govt finance committee today," she wrote. "I really appreciate and respect how hard teachers worked to get improvements in learning conditions and I know how much they sacrificed personally for the hard-won gains. Teachers have fought hard for years and I shudder to think what our school system would be like today without all the teacher advocacy over the years."
Bacchus said that parents and trustees need to support this by advocating for public schools and the funding they need.
"I wish all students a wonderful year as they finally head back to school. This has been a long and difficult dispute and I'm relieved it's over (once all school boards ratify - by 6 pm tomorrow)," she added.
