School Labour dispute ends in Medicine Hat

Teachers, board ink pact lasting until 2007

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Medicine Hat

Teachers have voted 89 per cent in favour of accepting the recommendations of the one-member inquiry board which include retroactive and future salary increases, provisions on pay for substitute teachers and a $350 spending account to cover expenses not covered by the health plan.

The school board voted 3-2 to accept the recommendations.

Labour peace

Under the deal, teachers will get a total of 10.3 per cent over the four-year term of the contract that will date back to Sept. 1, 2003. The disputes board, led by Andrew Sims, did not address the contentious issue of a cap on the number of minutes teachers are expected to instruct each day.

Alberta Employment Minister Mike Cardinal called the disputes board in late January after it became clear the two sides would not reach a collective agreement on their own.

The parties had been unable to forge a collective bargaining agreement since August of last year. After months of fruitless bargaining the school board locked out its 65 teachers in December but the two sides compromised and schools reopened Jan. 11 for 2,500 students.

"We knew we wouldn't get everything but this was the only way we could get a settlement." - Shauna Pahl

The teachers wanted salaries, benefits and working conditions similar to those of their counterparts in Medicine Hat public schools.

"We did not want the disputes inquiry board to begin with, we are not happy that it happened but we are accepting it and it's business as usual," said board chair Mike Tivadar April 12.

"One thing we are happy about is there are no working conditions or an instructional-minutes cap. That was something that we were very adamant that would not be there and the mediator saw our side of that and then there will be no working conditions."

Tivadar said the board will have to make changes in the division to accommodate some of the financial obligations it faces under the new contract but would not confirm if changes would include staff reductions or programming changes.

"I don't have all that information with me but (the cost of the contract) is definitely more than what we are receiving in grants, there is no question about that," he said. "Everything is being reviewed."

Better deal

"When we requested the dispute inquiry board from the minister of human resources, we knew that would not be getting everything that we wanted. But we also knew that we would get more of the issues looked at than what the board was willing to do," she said. "So (approving the recommendations) was a compromise for both sides."

Teachers were looking for at least $500 in their health spending account, wanted a cap on the number of minutes they are expected to teach each day and wanted to be higher in the priority list when it came to how division funds were spent.

"We knew we wouldn't get everything but this was the only way we could get a settlement."

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