Bargaining framework for school divisions streamlined

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This article was published 31/01/2022 (1513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government officially proclaimed Bill 45 — the Public Schools Amendment and Manitoba Teachers’ Society Amendment Act — on Monday, thereby creating a single provincial bargaining process for kindergarten to Grade 12 educators.

This new piece of legislation, originally introduced in November 2020, upends the province’s current bargaining framework, where all 38 English school divisions and teachers’ associations operate under their own separate collective agreement.

Starting June 30, all items concerning employee contracts will be negotiated at a central table between the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (on behalf of all teachers’ associations) and the employer bargaining representative(s).

“We want all public school teachers across Manitoba to have access to the same bargaining process, especially with agreements expiring this spring,” Education Minister Wayne Ewasko stated in a news release. “This new legislation aligns with our department’s commitment to strengthen and improve the education system in Manitoba.”

The minister also noted this new bargaining framework does not apply to the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine.

The DSFM and l’association des éducatrices et des éducateurs franco-manitobains will continue to negotiate terms outside of the single bargaining framework outlined in Bill 45.

Manitoba School Boards Association president Alan Campbell spoke in favour of the new bargaining process in Monday’s news release, stating his organization looks forward to securing working conditions for its members that are “effective and sustainable.”

“At the same time, we value Manitoba’s locally responsive education system for students across Manitoba’s diverse communities and will continue to advocate that this principle guides and informs future bargaining efforts,” Campbell said.

Meanwhile, MTS president James Bedford also stood behind the changes laid out in Bill 45, claiming the union has “supported a provincial bargaining model for more than a decade.”

“We are pleased to finally have clarity on the path forward,” Bedford said Monday. “We look forward to a meaningful collective bargaining process and the negotiation of fair terms and conditions of employment for the province’s 16,600 public school educators.”

However, MTS admits in its own separate news release that Bill 45 does contain some problematic elements for teachers, like how the legislation dictates that arbitrators must take into account a school division’s “ability to pay” when determining a settlement.

Brandon Teachers’ Association president Cale Dunbar declined to comment on Monday’s announcement about Bill 45.

The news about Bill 45 comes three months after the Progressive Conservatives officially shelved its plans for education reform through Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act.

While Bill 64 was much larger in scope, it also sought to centralize the province’s education system by merging all divisions, except the DSFM, into 15 regional catchment areas that could be managed by one centralized body.

MTS representatives clarified on Monday that Bill 45 does not stipulate any school division amalgamations, but also admitted that “future amalgamations are still possible.”

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