The BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF) has signed a tentative contract agreement with the government's bargaining agent, the BC Public School Employers' Association, and recommended its ratification to all members.
"After a long and difficult round of negotiations, we were compelled into this process under threat of huge fines and further punitive legislation," said BCTF president Susan Lambert. "We have been able to achieve some modest improvements, but, above all, we succeeded in getting government [to] take its concession demands off the table.
"We've concluded this agreement in order to prevent government from imposing a contract that would further erode teachers' hard-won rights and do more harm to students' learning conditions."
According to a statement from the BCTF, the agreement provides for no improvements to class size and fails to address the gap between B.C. teachers' salaries and those in other regions of the country.
"Going into this round of negotiations we were the lowest-paid teachers in Western Canada and also lagged behind Ontario. Now we will fall even further behind, despite living in the province with the highest cost of living in the country," Lambert said.
Teachers across the province will cast their ballots starting today. Results of the ratification vote are scheduled to be announced Friday.
