Tentative deal reached between BC teachers and the government

RICHMOND (NEWS1130) – A tentative deal has been reached in the BC teachers dispute.

Mediator Vince Ready has not yet released details of the tentative agreement, which was reached around 4 a.m. He says the government and teachers worked very hard to get to this point, but won’t say which side moved on what.

“The parties are going to meet later [today] and finalize a few of the outstanding details. But generally speaking, [there is] tentative agreement,” Ready told reporters this morning.

“I’m not at liberty to disclose any of the details, nor will the parties until they finalize them,” he added.

More details are expected later today.

BC teachers will vote on the deal on Thursday. It’s unclear when kids will be back in class.

The breakthrough in negotiations comes on the fifth day of talks at the Delta Hotel in Richmond between the BCTF and the employers’ association with the help of mediator Vince Ready.

The BCTF thanked its members through social media for their “commitment, courage and strength” during their months-long strike.

 

The union’s Nancy Knickerbocker said in a tweet that teachers will read over details and vote on the agreement on Thursday. She said workers will also need to clean and prep schools that have been closed since mid-June.

Negotiations resumed last week under increasing pressure from the public and suggestions by the government that legislating an end to the dispute was an option.

Timeline of events since the end of the last school year

Teachers launched full-scale job action two weeks before the summer break.

The teachers’ union and the government’s bargaining team barely spoke during the summer, and at the end of July, Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced the province would pay parents $40 a day for every child under 13 if the teachers’ strike continued into the start of the school year.

Veteran mediator Vince Ready agreed to make himself available in mid-August, but he walked away from the bargaining table Aug. 30, saying the two sides were just too far apart.

Schools remained closed Sept. 2 for half a million BC students.

The next day, Premier Christy Clark weighed into the dispute, saying no one wanted to see schools closed because of the ongoing teachers’ strike, but the government had to stand firm or the labour dispute would never end.

Union president Jim Iker called for binding arbitration, saying it was the only solution available to get the dispute settled.

Education Minister Peter Fassbender panned the idea hours later. He said the province had a bad experience with the process once before, referring to a costly dispute with BC doctors more than a decade ago. Later that evening, teachers rallied in downtown Vancouver, reiterating Iker’s call for binding arbitration.

Fassbender explained Sept. 6 why he rejected the proposal. He said government negotiator Peter Cameron had advised against it, and added the offer was not serious and would not guarantee an end to the strike.

The teachers’ union made the next move on Sept. 8, announcing its members would vote on binding arbitration.

One day before that vote, de Jong announced an expected $266-million financial surplus for the provincial government’s first financial quarter but he declined to use the funds to settle the teachers’ dispute.

Unions from across Canada announced last Wednesday, the day of the teachers’ vote, they had pledged millions of dollars of donations and loans for a hardship fund for BC teachers.

The teachers’ union announced that night results of the vote. Of the 30,699 teachers who cast ballots, 99.4 per cent voted to end the strike through binding arbitration.

Fassbender softened his stand last Thursday towards legislating teachers back to work and said legislation was another option available to government. Premier Christy Clark also said she was determined to get a deal before she leaves on a trade mission to India on Oct. 9, three days after the legislature resumes.