Public school employers achieve tentative deal with BCTF

VANCOUVER, June 26, 2012 /CNW/ - "After almost 80 bargaining sessions and 16 sessions with mediator Dr. Charles Jago, public school employers have reached a tentative collective agreement with the BC Teachers' Federation," announced Melanie Joy, Chair of the BC Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA).

Among the provisions, the tentative colllective agreement standardizes provincial language for a number of leaves, establishes a process for the local/provincial bargaining process, and renews a number of existing Letters of Understanding.

"The agreement is for a two-year term effective July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013," said Joy. "We will be communicating the details of the proposed agreement to our members — the province's public boards of education — and engaging in the necessary discussion with them prior to the ratification vote," said Joy. "Further information about the agreement will be available after both parties have held their ratification votes, which we anticipate will be completed by Wednesday, July 4, 2012."

"This is now the third collective agreement negotiated between BCPSEA and the BCTF under the provincial bargaining structure," said Joy. "We hope this tentative agreement will be carefully considered by both boards of education and teachers, and that they will agree this is a reasonable settlement at this time. For a variety of reasons it's been a challenging round of bargaining, but we always believed that if the parties could get down to focused discussions at the table, a negotiated deal was possible. There's no question that an agreement reached by the parties is always the best resolution, and that was always BCPSEA's objective."

"This has been a difficult year for all those involved with the public school system," Joy said. "We hope that boards and teachers will ratify this agreement and that we can all look forward to the new school year in September with a focus on what's really important — delivering the best possible educational experience for our students."

BCPSEA is the accredited bargaining agent for the province's 60 public boards of education.

BC Public School Employers' Association
604 730 0739  |  www.bcpsea.bc.ca