Nunavik school board reaches deal with education professionals, but not teachers
Talks with teachers continue into Thursday night; strike still expected if no settlement reached
Nunavik’s Kativik Ilisarniliriniq has reached a new collective agreement with its unionized education professionals. However, negotiations are continuing with the union representing the school board’s teachers. (File photo by Cedric Gallant)
Nunavik’s Kativik Ilisarniliriniq and the union representing the school board’s education professionals have reached an agreement on a new contract.
However, the board and its teachers and support staff — who are represented by a different union, the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec — are still negotiating to reach their own separate collective agreement.
Those talks were continuing Thursday night, union president Larry Imbeault told Nunatsiaq News.
Unless an agreement is reached, a 17-day strike planned by the teachers’ union to begin May 13 is expected to still go ahead.
In a news release Thursday, the school board said the agreement with the Union of Education Professionals of Nunavik and Montreal West, which represents the education professionals, was approved by 95 per cent of the union members who took part in a May 6 ratification vote.
The previous agreement expired in May 2023. The new contract is effective from 2023 through to 2028, the release said.
The new agreement will see more retention premiums for locally hired staff, such as transportation benefits including on-the-land outings, food transportation, and a housing allowance, the board’s release said.
Workers will also get a $7,500 signing bonus with a $2,600 yearly bonus for returning employees, plus an added retention bonus based on years of employment.
Harriet Keleutak, the school board’s director general, also said in the release that negotiations with support staff and teachers are ongoing.
She said that since the union’s announcement of its strike plan, the board’s negotiation team has been working late nights to reach a deal.
“We are hopeful that a mutually satisfying agreement will also be reached with them as soon as possible,” Keleutak said.
“We are committed to providing comparable working conditions to all our unionized staff and have conducted negotiations in a manner that upholds this principle.”
She said the board has filed a complaint with Quebec’s labor tribunal contesting the legality of the strike. Both the board and the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec are meeting at the tribunal on Friday.
The union also filed a complaint with the labour tribunal, alleging bad faith bargaining by the school board.
Congratulations to the Union of Education Professionals of Nunavik and Montreal West for reaching a deal with KI. Going since 2023 without a CBA in place is unacceptable and it’s good to finally have it corrected.
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Hopefully this bodes well for the ongoing negotiations involving the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec, too.
Sure the article tells of giving more money but not how kativik ilisarniliriniq gives itself more power to fire people. They can fire a teacher after 10 days with breach of contract. No school baord in the south can fire a teacher like that. Teachers from Cree school board striked for the same reason
Well. When you see the clowns they hire in Nunavik…good thing they keep this right of firing them if necessary – some people whi come up here are totally weirdo amd misplaced – but this in all organization. When you start to bring back a dog with rabies in your classroom to show your student – maybe you got to be fired.
Yep that’s the plan unless they go on strike.