Busy, busy busy! It’s back to school and
start up is always one of the busiest times to be a teacher. I just wanted to
put something together to help wrap my head around the upcoming negotiations
since it really seems like it has been awhile. I also believe as the STF
bargaining committee meets with the Government trustee team and goes through
the bargaining process, I think there are some important facts that can’t be
overlooked by the committee when they bargain and by teachers in evaluating any
agreement that comes forth.
The first year of our agreement has
already passed. In the timeframe that has already passed the CPI has increased by 2.47%. Some people have argued that this is not how the
CPI is calculated, but with some research this is as close as we can come with
our numbers. These increases represent the rise in prices from one year ago in
that month. Since we have spent money on these goods in each of these months,
the cost of living has indeed increased 2.47% as compared to the previous year.
September 2013- 1.5%
October 2013- 1.5%November 2013- 1.4%
December 2013- 2.3%
January 2014- 2.3%
February 2014- 2.3%
March 2014- 2.8%
April 2014- 2.8%- Highest in Canada
May 2014- 2.5%
June 2014- 2.2%
July 2014- 2.5%
August 2014- 2.7% - Highest in Canada
Normally you do not have the luxury of
knowing what the CPI is when negotiating a contract, but since we are a year
behind this is information that we cannot ignore. An acceptable increase for
year one starts with 2.47% with me BUT there is another huge factor to consider
dealing with instructional hours:
The Government increased the minimum
instructional hours to 950 for each school division. So each teacher was
mandated to instruct an extra, at a minimum, 25 hours, and upwards of 50 hours.
Keeping in mind these are instructional hours, this is equivalent to adding
5-10 working days assuming 5 hours of instructional time per day. I know that we
didn’t add 5-10 teaching days, but we did increase our day’s length by 15-20
minutes in most cases.
I don’t know any occupation where you
could add at least one week’s worth of work to an employee’s workload and not
give any compensation for said work. Based on a class 4 max salary teacher, one
week’s worth of work given 52 weeks in a year, is about $1500 per week. $1500
is about an 1.9% increase in wages.
Combine the CPI of 2.47% and a fair wage
of 1.9% increase representing the at LEAST one extra week’s worth of work
teachers are putting in this year and you have my BOTTOM line number of 4.37%.
Some people might argue that this would be too high, but considering the cost
of living is 2.47%, and we live in a have province at a boom time according to
our own Government, they have to pay their professionals accordingly. As for
the wage increase for the extra time, it’s fair. Of course I expect to be
compensated for the extra work. It’s a basic labour law, more mandated work
means a higher salary.
One last point to consider. At the STF meetings regarding the last contract our own bargaining team kept pointing to the other deals being stuck by SUN and CUPE and saying ours is a little better. Can OUR OWN bargaining team stop comparing us to unions that are not entirely composed of PROFESSIONALS? Aim higher bargaining team. We are professionals and deserve to be compensated accordingly. The government is sitting back and laughing at the fact they made these other unions settle for less than inflation. We cannot do the same.
Feel free to share with me what you feel
is fair and why, and spread the word and keep up the talk with teachers. Being
informed is our best weapon.