Agreement in principle for Pearson teachers

The Pearson Teacher’s Union (PTU), ruled with a 51 per cent vote in favour of a proposed contract from the Ministry of Education on Wednesday Jan. 13.

If the agreement passes, all class sizes should remain the same except kindergarten, which will drop by one student. Funding for special needs students will remain unchanged, and the teacher’s work week will stay at 32 hours instead of 35. “We kept a lot of what we had,” said president of the PTU, John Donnelly.

Salary increase was still a disappointment, Donnelly said, however he added that “they say when both sides aren’t happy, that makes a good agreement.”

Agreement includes a 7.5 per cent pay increase over five years. Government previously offered three per cent over the same period but the unions were asking for 13.5 per cent for three years.

Of nearly 2,000 PTU members, only 651 voted on the contract, a number that was disappointing for Donnelly. “A vibrant democracy is a participatory democracy,” he said.

“I think a lot of people who didn’t show up figured the agreement was pretty well approved.”

At the same meeting, even less teachers (574) voted 68 per cent in favour of continuing work-to-rule measures.

“That may have been more of an emotional vote, unfortunately,” said Donnelly. He speculated that the vote to continue the measures, that cease extracurricular activities, may have been a form of protest.

“They may be trying to show that they’re not happy with how the government treated teachers,” he said. Negotiations have been ongoing since Dec. 2014.

The nine English unions have until Jan. 21 to vote on the contract.