The New Brunswick Teachers’ Federation has given the government a 100-day strike notice as it heads toward a June weekend of negotiation under a conciliation board for a new collective agreement.
Beginning on May 20, according to NBTF president Connie Keating, the clock on the deals starts to tick. She said teachers are committed to finishing out this year and the associated celebrations for students, like graduation and prom.
“Teachers have many questions at this stage of negotiations, especially for the minister of education and early childhood development,” she said to the crowd at the federations’s head office in Fredericton. “Mr. (Bill) Hogan, it’s hard to predict whether you’ll still be minister of education in September at the rate you are making mistakes now. If you are, remember the start of 2023 school year is in your hands.”
Keating said the union was given an ultimatum in February on bus services. She said the department said it would have to agree to require students to go to school in inclement weather even without the operation of the school buses.
“Perhaps we need to slow down on the changes the government are making,” she said.
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“We’ve asked, actually, for stability to be returned to the system before serious change would occur and that’s not what this government has done,” Keating said in an interview.
Keating, and co-president Nathalie Brideau, questioned Hogan – given his tenured career as an educator – on his feelings toward the current state of the system.
“We need to remember that teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions,” she said.
Conciliation dates have been set for June 3, 4, and 5, 17 and 18
The NBTF has launched a “lemon” campaign, using the sour fruit commonly used to make lemonade as a symbol of being “squeezed” out of a fair deal.
It promised during the conciliation period not to use the symbol or to hold any rallies, but in the speech, Brideau and Keating told teachers and its membership not to throw away their signs just yet.
“If an agreement cannot be reached through conciliation process, the start of the school year may be impacted,” she said.
The Higgs government has previously faced collective bargaining with public sector unions, including the New Brunswick Nurses Union and the Canadian Union of Public Sector Employees.
In November 2021, CUPE struck for 16 days before finally reaching a deal with the government.
Just earlier this month, Premier Blaine Higgs faced backlash from Public Sector Alliance of Canada members for telling the Telegraph-Journal the federal government “should hold the line,” speaking about its offer to the union.
But Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said he is disappointed the NBTF has started the clock on a strike before the conciliation process has even begun.
He declined to speak about the inclement weather policy or what the sticking points were in negotiations. Steeves said there has been no discussion yet about what could happen if teachers strike in September, placing his hope in reaching a deal in June.
Steeves could not recall a recent time conciliation resulted in a deal.
“Coming to a solution is having a new contract signed by both parties,” he said speaking to reporters. “I’m very confident that we’ll have fruitful talks and confident the conciliation board is the right way to go.”
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