Teachers make peace with Nunavut government

Friends once again: Human Resources Minister Hunter Tootoo grins at Robin Langill, president of the Nunavut Teachers’ Association, at the signing of a new collective agreement Feb. 17 in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Nunavut teachers will get raises each year between now and 2013, plus a retroactive raise dating back to July 1, 2009, under a new four-year wage-benefit deal signed Feb. 17 between the Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Teachers Association.

“It’s been a long, tough road to get to where we are today,” Human Resources Minister Hunter Tootoo said.

The deal gives teachers a 4.5 per cent increase in the first year of the contract, 2 per cent increases in each of the following two years and a 2.5 per cent increase in the fourth year.

Tootoo said he didn’t know the total cost of the agreement, because “I was not a party to negotiations.”

But Robin Langill, the president of the NTA, said the union estimates the deal will impose a total cost of between $17 million and $22 million on the GN for the life of the contract.

“We don’t have the exact data that the employer has. That was our estimate,” Langill said.

Other provisions in the deal include:

• no change to Inuit language allowances;

• an increase of 4.5 per cent in allowances paid to principals and vice principals as of July 11, 2011;

• two days off each year for teachers who want to go hunting or fishing;

• a cap on northern allowance payments, which will be held at April 1, 2010 levels.

As well, the two sides agreed to form a committee to work on reducing violence in schools.

Langill said this committee, with at least two members from the union and two members from the GN, will direct their efforts towards creating a safer working environment for teachers and a safer learning environment for students.

“Teachers are put at risk . They’ve been assaulted. Student are put at risk. They have been assaulted and bullied,” Langill said.

Recently in the Kivalliq region, a teacher was hospitalized after suffering an an attack from a student that required facial surgery.

Tootoo said both sides are equally committed to the idea of making improving personal safety within Nunavut schools.

“Handling it through the collective agreement is an opportunity for both sides to jointly develop something, so that we’re all marching to the same tune,” Tootoo said.

The new committee will not, however, include participation from the Coalition of Nunavut District Education Authorities.

But Tootoo said more members could be added in the future.

This past November, talks between the two sides had stalled, prompting the union to issue a public denunciation of the GN’s initial bargaining position, which offered no wage increases over four years.

But after a bargaining session held Jan. 24 to Jan. 28, the two side struck a deal, which the union then put to a vote among its members.

By Feb. 10, about 90 per cent of teachers had voted. Of those, about 95 percent said yes.

At the Feb. 17 signing, Tootoo lavished praise on Nunavut teachers for their contribution to Nunavut.

“This contract signals a renewed commitment to supporting our teachers and their important work in our schools and communities,” Tootoo said.

The GN’s next big labour negotiation will be conducted with the Nunavut Employees Union, whose last contract expired this past fall.

Tootoo wouldn’t speculate on how the NTA deal might influence those negotiations, saying it depends on the mandate that each side is given.