Premier Stephen McNeil is holding a firm line on his government’s position with the province’s public school teachers, after another round of talks between the two sides broke off on Friday.
READ MORE: Contract talks with Nova Scotia teachers and government collapse, job action ‘likely’
In a press conference Saturday, McNeil reiterated that the province’s offer was “fair” and that the proposal the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) put forward was “not sustainable.”
“The reality is I have to deal with the financial ramifications of this province,” McNeil said.
McNeil said the two major sticking points in the negotiations that took place this week were union requests for wage increases and sustaining the long service award, a factor many teachers have said is a “deal breaker.”
“We cannot continue to grow the long service award,” McNeil said.
Teachers are also looking to have working conditions included in the contract, which the government has refused.
READ MORE: Hundreds of Nova Scotia teachers, parents, kids march on Liberal MLA offices
McNeil’s government, in addition to the previous contract offer, put forward $10 million each year going forward as part of the working conditions partnership to be spent on dealing with classroom issues.
This portion of the offer would be retroactive to 2015, when the last contract expired. If the government and union come to an agreement, the contract would cover 2015-2019.
However, the spending of that $10 million has to be agreed upon by both sides, is outside the contract, and isn’t enforceable.
NSTU President Liette Doucet said Saturday that isn’t enough for teachers.
“It’s going to take a very strong commitment from the government to improve working conditions, number 1,” Doucet said.
“It’s going to take some commitment from the government to look at salary increased.
“We’re not asking for a huge amount, we’re asking for at least cost of living. And right now we’re not seeing any movement especially with our working conditions.”
Should teachers walk off the job on Dec. 5, McNeil said the government is looking at options for day programs for children. He said there are some community programs available which the government is looking at expanding on in the short term, if need be.
“Our goal though is to get back to the table and have teachers in front of their children,” McNeil said.
‘Huge gaps’ between union asks, government offers
The premier said there are “huge gaps” between the proposal the union brought to the table and what the government has to offer.
“The reality is we can’t spend money that we don’t have hoping the economy will grow,” he said.
The government breakdown of union proposal, totalling $508 million, is:
- $340 million for working conditions ($170 million in each of the last two years),
- $140 million in wages,
- and $28 million in long service award.
The government breakdown of government offer, totalling $41 million, is:
- $10 million each year for working conditions partnership ($20 million total),
- and $21 million in wages.
“We provided a list of what we were looking for. The government came back with a list of the money and basically a list of ‘no’s’,” Doucet said.
“We were not able to negotiate. There was no back and forth. The government didn’t come back to us with any middle ground.”
McNeil also said the NSTU’s proposal would cost $1.556 billion across the entire public sector were the wage increases and long service award requests applied, versus the government’s offer costing $176 million.
— With files from Global’s Jennifer Grudic.
Comments