More than 900 teachers, substitutes, administrators and counsellors have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with Red Deer Public Schools.
In Alberta, teachers bargain with the province on things such as salary, and then a second tier of negotiating occurs with individual school divisions on smaller items.
With those represented by ATA Local 60 (Red Deer Public), a second tier agreement with the division had been missing since 2020, but negotiations on it couldn’t be held until the province completed its first.
A new deal with the Alberta Government had been a couple years in the making, and wasn’t announced until summer 2022, hence the three-year gap in having a deal on the lower level, says Nate Siler, Local 60 president.
Siler says approximately 100 members voted Tuesday, with 69 per cent in favour of ratification.
Kurt Sacher To Retire Next Year Chinook's Edge Board prepares to launch superintendent hiring process Sep 15, 2024 welcome, bienvenue, tánsi Welcoming Week events start in Red Deer as Premier Smith says no to more asylum seekers Sep 15, 2024 alleged killing happened last december One arrested, one wanted in connection to alleged murder on Sunchild First Nation Sep 15, 2024Assuming the Red Deer Public Schools board of trustees ratifies the deal on April 19, it will be effective retroactively, from September 2020 until August 31, 2024.
“To all the teachers and people represented here, I’m very glad that we got to truly hear both sides of the table on Tuesday. I had teachers come out who had excellent reasons to stand behind why they were going to vote no,” says Siler. “What that room had was 100 exceptionally professional people with professional demeanour throughout, and voicing 100 different viewpoints towards this memorandum of agreement.”
Advancements include:
a) expansion of options for what members can classify as further education
b) greater flexibility for administrators who have to give up time during summer; they can now bank more lieu time if they have to work more time during summer
c) extended coverage for substitutes who are injured on the job
d) teachers who do not have employment guaranteed for the following school year must be notified in writing by June 1 (this was being done conventionally but it wasn’t written into policy)
As for the relationship with the school board, Siler says it’s certainly one of respect.
In principle, a memorandum of settlement was agreed to last week, but still faced ratification.
Red Deer Public Schools described the recent four days of negotiations as respectful and collaborative, adding, “We were pleased to hear the ATA Local ratified the memorandum.”