Nunavut teachers reach tentative deal with GN

The Nunavut Teachers’ Association has reached a tentative agreement with the Government of Nunavut, after 20 months of negotiations. (PHOTO COURTESY NTA)

Nunavut teachers have reached a tentative agreement with the Government of Nunavut after almost two years of negotiations.

The agreement, reached Jan. 28, includes a salary increase, confirmed Robin Langill the president of the Nunavut Teachers’ Association.

Langill declined to go into details, but said there aren’t any rollbacks in the agreement, either.

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 only thing I’m prepared to share is that good faith bargaining did take place,” Langill said. “Right now, teachers have the agreement in their hands and they’ll take some time to look it over.”

Teachers will vote on the agreement starting next week until Feb. 10, he said.

Langill said the two sides had been negotiating under a media blackout, which was supposed to remain in place until the official contract signing.

“Teachers need time to contemplate the agreement and make a decision based on what they think, without being influenced by the public or media,” Langill said.

But an NTA member went to the media Feb. 3 shortly after the tentative agreement had been reached.

And the union itself called a press conference this past November to announce complaints about the GN’s bargaining position at that time.

The NTA represents more than 700 teachers across the territory.

The group has been without a new contract since June 30, 2009, when the last collective agreement expired.