Nunavut teachers union votes yes to new contract

Nunavut teachers have voted firmly in favour of their new contract.

The Nunavut Teachers’ Association and the Government of Nunavut reached a tentative agreement Jan. 28, which teachers had until Feb. 10 to vote on.

The result: about 90 per cent of the union’s membership cast votes, 95 per cent of those who voted were in favour of the new contract.

“The membership has very clearly spoken,” said NTA president Robin Langill. “This is the highest rate of acceptance for any tentative agreement that I can remember since my career began, in what is now Nunavut, twenty-five years ago.”

Langill didn’t offer details about the new contract, although he previously confirmed it included a salary increase.

The new contract does not include the proposed rollbacks, which put a dent in negotiations last fall.

The GN’s previous offer included no wage increases over the four-year life of the new contract and clawbacks to the Inuit Language Allowance and teachers’ ability to take paid “snow days.”

The NTA, which represents more than 700 teachers across the territory, had been without a new contract since June 30, 2009, when the last collective agreement expired.

“This ratification vote by teachers is one more step towards removing the uncertainty this round of negotiations have created,” Langill said. “This can only benefit student, parents and education in Nunavut.”