New deal offers teachers 11 per cent raise

Nunavut’s teachers will see fatter pay cheques and more benefits in the near future, if they vote in favor of a tentative collective agreement struck last week between the teachers’ union and the Government of Nunavut.

The deal offers an 11 per cent pay increase over a period of four years, retroactive to July 1, 2005 and expiring June 30, 2009.

“Is it a good deal for our teachers,” said Jimmy Jacquard, president of the Federation of Nunavut Teachers, which represents 630 teachers in Nunavut. “I would say that it is a fair deal.”

Other gains include lower deductibles for dental care and more orthodontic coverage. Parental leave will be increased to 13 weeks from 12 when the agreement is signed, and then to 14 weeks on July 1, 2008.

Teachers will also be able to suspend maternity leave top-up benefits paid by the employer during the summer months, to resume at the start of the school year. That means employees will not lose qualifying weeks while they are already on summer holiday.

New in the agreement is a teachers’ allowance of $800 per year.

“Teachers spend some of their own money on resources and class supplies,” said Jacquard. “There is a professional allowance to recognize that.”

Some teachers will also see increases in the Northern Allowance.

Teachers in Iqaluit get the lowest allowance at $12,109, while teachers in Grise Fiord get the highest, at $28,346.

A majority of the Federation of Nunavut Teachers’ members must vote in favour of the agreement before it goes into effect.

Housing for teachers falls outside of the unions bargaining power. That means that the increases proposed in the tentative agreement do not take into consideration the new GN staff housing policy.

“The gains over the life of the agreement will not cover the increases in rent that many of our members will face under the new housing policy,” Jacquard said. “We will be addressing the housing issue in another forum.”

In the meantime, four Iqaluit teachers are still living in hotels while waiting for government housing.

“They have adjusted to hotel life, but are looking forward to the day when they can have a place to call their own,” Jacquard said.