Nunavut government and teachers’ union reach tentative contract deal
Previous collective agreement expired on June 30
Inuksuk High School is seen in Iqaluit. Last week the territorial government and Nunavut Teachers’ Association struck tentative plans for a new collective agreement. (File Photo)
The Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Teachers’ Association are on the verge of a new collective agreement.
On Sept. 17, both parties tentatively reached a new collective agreement, according to a joint statement released Tuesday.
The deal includes an agreement on working conditions, such as salary and taking leave, said Justin Matchett, the president of the NTA, in an interview.
“The amount of time it took us to get [the agreement] done surprised us, but in a good way,” Matchett said, adding that NTA is used to contract talks taking a longer amount of time.
“Both teams seemed to have it in mind that it was in the best interest of everyone to get a deal done.”
Matchett said the challenges of COVID-19 may have shown how important having teachers is to the territory.
“I think some of the hard work by our teachers was recognized,” Matchett said.
Details of the agreement — such as how much of a pay increase teachers will receive — won’t be made public until after ratification of the deal, both parties said.
For the new agreement to be ratified, it must first be accepted by the NTA’s central executive. Then NTA members will vote on whether to approve the agreement.
Until the new agreement is passed, teachers are currently working under the same conditions of the agreement that expired on June 30.
As of last week, Matchett said there were over 50 vacant teaching positions in Nunavut.
Great for the teachers. I wonder when the GN will get its new contract? It has been 3 years already.
i work for the GN too and been watching whats been happening. from the looks of it, i dont really have any hope of it happening soon, still months yet before anything finally starts to happen. maybe, if we’re lucky, by spring time next year it’ll finally be done, months before it expires again, then the exact same thing will happen (as always) so dont have hopes up yet, expect to finally hear tiny action in few months. nothing new.
The teachers stepped up during Covid. My daughter’s teacher phoned home, Zoomed with us, drove by to wave, drop of packages and food. I’m so happy that negotiations went well. I’m a GN worker and waiting now almost 4 years for my deal. A majority of us were frontline workers during the pandemic. Why are we still waiting? I tried calling the NEU office and they don’t even pick up their phones. If the union shutdown they should let us know. We need a President that is going to help us and pick up the phone when we call.
My son is a teacher. They are happy with how this all went down. Meanwhile I’ve been waiting for an update for my deal. Over 3 years and still waiting. The new NTA president started working 3 weeks ago and meanwhile we are waiting for a new President for the NEU. Hopefully next year. Everyone deserves a fair deal.
Since the last contract ended, in September 2017, inflation has gone up 9-10%. And negotiations at the earliest will not happen until about July 2022. Who knows how much inflation will have gone up by then and that will be about 5 years since our last CBA.
When you think about it, we’re being underpaid right now while inflation continues to rise.
When the new Ministers and NEU President have been elected, GN employees should constantly be at both of them to come to terms with a deal. Otherwise a strike should happen
Remember that last time a new CBA was ratified long after the previous one expired, the GN had to pay retro pay to employees but didn’t want to backpay former staff that had left in the period after the old CBA expired and before the new one was ratified? They’re probably trying to pull the same thing here, plus they’re saving money by not paying interest on the money they’re holding onto for inflation bump that employees should already be receiving.
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Also remember that George Hickes didn’t rule out having a wage freeze in the GN. Nunatsiaq article “Nunavut finance minister won’t rule out retail sales tax” from November 5, 2020.
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Word from the union indicated that the biggest issue seemed to be the Northern Allowance. There’s been no adjustments to the Northern Allowance since April 1, 2010, and I’m pretty sure nobody knows how they originally calculated. Every new CBA, they leave them the same and say “we’re making it mandatory to have these sorted out for next time”. Well it sounds like this time they actually tried, and even though the numbers weren’t published, there was a notion about “some” communities having their allowance go down, and “some” communities have their allowance go up.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that “some” of the communities with their allowance proposed to go down would pretty much just be Iqaluit, where they can order a vast amount of things at southern costs (or lower, after tax) through Amazon with free shipping. The union sure wouldn’t allow for their Iqaluit employees to take a hit for the betterment of other communities.
and when they finally make an agreement, the rates are going to be a joke, every single time the agreement is renewed, the rate are like, 2%, 1.5%, 1.5% 1%, which is a stupid way to get rid of us asking from our needs. if it wasnt for us workers, there would be nothing happening in each community. we deserve more than 1% joke raise. and those 1.5% 1% raise, are even still too small to cover the deductions that run in thousands every pay!
Still needs teacher! Really! The Department of Education needs to find out why the Human Resources officers are not forwarding the resumes and applications to principals when they get them. Hello !
I hope persons take the time to read and do the calculations properly. Yes the agreement was done quickly and they offered a 7% spread over 4 years. For the 1st year 2%, that’s around $30 to $70 extra on your pay.
But money aside, the union gave up so much, no wonder the negotiations went so quickly. Please take the time to read and you will see, teacher lost much more than they gain, way more. So no I disagree with the statement that it went well as the importantance of teacher in the community is noticed.. There is no mention of no great benefit to show teachers they are important, be honest.
NTA sold out their members.. The list of what was given up too much to list but what was received is a 2%, 1.5%, 1.5%, and 2%.. less than $70 after deductions and that’s at the highest level.. Does NTA even realize the increase in prices at the store, yet northern allowances not mention.. just a note.. SMH..
NTA stop taking the teachers for granted you suppose to represent them….