The North East School Divison's board voted to approve a new local agreement with its teachers.
The one-year agreement with the North East Teachers’ Association will last until the end of June 2017.
“Because of the fiscal situation in the province, we agreed to an agreement that has no additional costs,” said Don Rempel, the division's director of education, after the Feb. 14 board meeting. “It’s just basically cleaning up some language and the agreement virtually stayed the same through the end of this year.”
The language better aligns the agreement with changes to the Education Act and other regulations made in 2012 and 2013.
Saskatchewan has a two-level bargaining system with teachers. Items like salaries are determined provincially between the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation. The local agreement covers items like substitute pay, some forms of leave, professional development bursaries and supports, preparation time, and supervision duties.
David Rogers, the president of the Teachers’ Association, was pleased with the agreement.
“We’re happy to see the LINC [Local Implementation Negotiations Committee] agreement ratified by our employer. Our members had previously ratified it in January.”
Luke Perkins, the division’s chair, agreed.
“The teachers seemed happy with that and the board looked at it. If things change in a year, we’ll look at it again.”
That’s exactly what the Teachers’ Association plans to do.
“Before the end of the school year, we’ll probably sit down and start to resume negotiations for the next agreement,” Rogers said.
The president said his organization’s waiting for the uncertainty that’s connected with possible school division amalgamation to be over before it begins that process.
