Teachers in the qathet region are glad their fellow BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF) members around the province voted in favor of ratifying the new three-year contract, according to Powell River District Teachers’ Association (PRDTA) president Izi Loveluck.
“This will give stability to teachers and to the community,” stated Loveluck in a written response to a Peak request for comment.
“Although the contract does have a salary raise, more equity for teachers on maternity leave, and somewhat improved health benefits, it does not provide pro-rated preparation time at secondary schools,” added Loveluck. “This means that grade eight to 12 teachers here do not get any time to prepare for classes or review student assessments unless they work full time.”
Loveluck stated that it was also not possible to reach any agreement on class size and composition guidelines, leaving the current ones in place, even though both the BCTF and provincial ministry of education agree it is not working the way it should to provide the best support for the most vulnerable students province-wide.
“However, here in Powell River, teachers have worked collaboratively with the school district to use the funds as efficiently as possible,” stated Loveluck. “My hope is that this contract will help us recruit and retain teachers here so we have enough classroom teachers and teachers teaching on-call (TTOCs).
“Although our classrooms are staffed, when we do not have enough TTOCs, specialist and support teachers have to cover classroom teacher absences, and this means a loss of services for the students who most need support such as reading intervention, and this impacts their progress.”
Loveluck stated that it is a good thing for all that teachers have approved the new collective agreement and she looks forward to continuing to work with School District 47 to implement the new provisions seamlessly.
According to the BCTF website, the vote was 94 per cent in favor of the contract, with 33,246 votes for and 2,299 against. The number of eligible voters was 49,684.
According to a BCTF media release, the ratified agreement includes a three-year term, from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025. The general wage increases in year one include $427 added to each step of the pay grid, plus an additional 3.24 percent general wage increase, and the elimination of the bottom step of all grids.
In year two, there will be a 5.5 percent general wage increase, plus up to an additional 1.25 per cent cost-of-living adjustment, subject to specific criteria, and adding 0.3 per cent to the top step of all grids.
In year three there will be a two per cent general wage increase, plus up to an additional one per cent cost-of-living adjustment, subject to specific criteria, and an additional 0.11 per cent to the top step of all grids.
BCTF stated that important achievements for both the parties in these negotiations include: improvements to benefits, such as adding access to registered clinical counselors and social workers; standard maternity supplemental employment benefits across the province; recognition of teaching experience from schools operated by First Nations in the same way as teaching experience is recognized from public schools; establishment of a minimum level of professional-development funding across the province; and increased preparation time for elementary school teachers.
