THE largest teachers’ wage increase in at least two decades in the Winnipeg School Division could help drive school boards together on a united bargaining front next year.
And the contract might produce a property tax increase in the division.
On Tuesday, the morning after giving teachers an overall 3.8 per cent raise, the Winnipeg School Division is talking up the need for province wide bargaining.
“It’s important to work collaboratively, with other divisions” to ensure consistency with what teachers get paid, WSD finance chairwoman Kristine Barr said Tuesday.
“The reality is, teachers work with the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, trustees work with the Manitoba School Boards Association,” said Barr.
A majority of school boards has opposed province wide bargaining, while teachers’ wages have steadily increased to annual packages of three per cent plus cash in almost every division.
In the past, “Winnipeg School Division has seen provincial bargaining as a positive change,” said Barr. “It’s certainly something to explore.” Only one division has settled for 2010-11. Louis Riel teachers received 4.82 per cent this year, and next year get two phased-in increases of 1.5 per cent, compounding to 3.03 per cent.
Barr said divisions are looking at one-year settlements so they can strategize a uniform approach to bargaining.
WSD board chairwoman Jackie Sneesby said the 2009-10 deal approved Monday night is an overall 3.8 per cent increase.
“It’s three per cent, plus adjustments to scale,” which see teachers receive additional cash ranging from zero to $732, Barr said. “There is a significant portion of our teachers who would receive the maximum.”
Had the two sides not approved the new contract, it would likely have gone to binding arbitration, where teachers could have been awarded an even higher raise. “That’s a definite possibility,” said Barr.
The settlement is the largest for the division’s teachers in at least two decades. The Winnipeg Teachers Association had received a straight three per cent increase for the previous five years, and lesser amounts prior to that.
Barr said the agreement puts WSD teachers in the middle of the pack for city teachers.
Winnipeg teachers with 10 years experience, an undergraduate degree and an education degree are earning around $77,000 to $79,000. Rookie teachers with both degrees earn about $50,000 to $51,000 in city divisions this year. Precise figures based on recent contract settlements are not available yet.
Barr said differences in maximum salaries among divisions are miniscule compared to differences in benefits and working conditions.
She hinted that the settlement could mean an increase in property taxes, though cautioning that provincial operating grants won’t be announced until late this month.
“We’ve got a history in Winnipeg School Division of maintaining services and programs,” Barr said. “If it means an incremental tax increase, that’s what the division has done in the past.”
“What we settled for is three plus cash,” said WTA president Dave Najduch.
The cash, to be paid out in two phases, ranges from zero to $732 per teacher.
There is no simple way to characterize who gets cash, or how much cash, he said.
“It’s not a signing bonus,” said Najduch, who emphasized the cash will be built into the base of the contract when talks begin for a 2010-11 deal.
“It’s in line with what everyone else is getting,” said Najduch. Teachers are still trying to catch up with the raises they didn’t get under the Filmon Conservatives, he said: “There was a time in the ’90s when our increases were zero.”
The base raise for teachers became three per cent early in the decade. In recent years, some divisions added various additional cash, or built in catch-up with neighbouring divisions. In the 2009-10 school year, almost every division’s contract is three per cent plus some form of cash.
The highest previous cash addition was $550, paid this year to all teachers in Dauphin-based Mountain View S.D. It is phased in over two payments.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/big-teachers-raise-may-trigger-property-tax-hike-81304117.html
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