Schools will be open shortly after B.C.’s teachers on Thursday night (Sept. 18) voted overwhelmingly in favour of an agreement reached by the BC Teachers Federation and the province.
“With the ratification of the new collective agreement, the strike and lockout are now over. Teachers and students will be back in school on Monday,” said Jim Iker, the president of the BCTF in a news conference Thursday night.
86 per cent of teachers who voted opted in favour of the six year agreement reached early Tuesday morning between the BCTF and government negotiators. 31,741 out of about 41,000 teachers cast votes on Thursday.
The six-year, retroactive agreement is the longest ever negotiated. It includes a 7.25 per cent salary increase and improvements in extended health benefits.
The agreement also provides for an education fund that will average $80 million per year over the course of the agreement. The fund will be used to hire specialist teachers in order to address class size and composition issues.
Another $105 million will be dispersed by the union to settle hundreds of grievances resulting from the stripping of class size and composition from the teachers’ contract in 2002.