An afternoon rally in front of School District 43 offices was averted Tuesday when an 11th houragreement was reached by the board of education to pay teachers for a disputed eighth work day in September.
The news was widely shared on Twitter, after The News' print deadline, and means all full-time teachers will be paid for Sept. 19, considered back-to-school preparation day, with funds dropping into their bank accounts likely at the end of the month.
"This was a fairness issue that needed to be addressed," superintendent Tom Grant said to explain the reversal of a decision to not pay teachers' based on how monthly pay is calculated in the collective agreement.
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The payout worth about $700,000 is being calculated as an incremental strike cost and the district will include the sum in its calculations for the Ministry of Education, to be balanced against strike savings the province has said it wants back.
But whether the district's decision will be supported by the ministry is not a sure thing, and board chair Melissa Hyndes said some advocacy might be required to get the province to agree to the payment plan.
"The provincial agreement that was struck - in their wording in plain text - it says all teachers will be paid for Sept. 19. It wasn't until after the fact they said you had to be paid under your local collective agreement," Hyndes said.
The board is appealing to the BC School Trustees' Association for advocacy in the matter, noting that at least 22 school districts in the province are caught in a similar situation, meaning that some teachers are getting paid for the back-to-school preparation day and others are not.
"This affects many districts, it's not just our problem," Hyndes said.
However, if the province doesn't agree the money is an incremental cost due the strike, the district will have to find a way to work it into its operating budget for the year that ends in June, SD43's secretary treasurer Mark Ferrari said.
Under the collective agreement, which Ferrari said the district applied correctly, teachers are paid 20 days in a month, so subtracting seven days left them with 13 paid days.
The district had sought advice from the BC Public School Employers Association, which released its press lease Monday stating teachers had been paid according to the collective agreement.
However, the superintendent said on review, not paying teachers for the eighth day, seemed unfair.
"This is a fairness issue for people who have done a pretty remarkable job in this district. It was the unintended consequences of an action and we would hope people would look at those unintended consequences."
SD43 teachers meanwhile were pleased that their lobbying paid off. In a statement after the agreement was reached, CTA president Charley King said the board and the district made the right decision.
"We're really pleased that School District 43 is honouring that provincial agreement and paying teachers for our work on Sept. 19th," stated King. "We asked trustees to look into this issue and they did. Moreover, they made the decision to right this wrong and they made the decision to honour our provincial agreement. We're grateful for that."
There are approximately 2,000 full and part-time teachers working in this district.
