École La Prairie in Red Deer. (Google Maps)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

RETROACTIVE DEAL DONE

Francophone teachers, division ratify new agreement

Feb 12, 2021 | 2:35 PM

Francophone teachers in Red Deer and across the province officially have a new contract.

Late last month, teachers employed by Conseil Scolaire Centre-Nord (CSCN), including at École La Prairie in Red Deer, voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action.

This after they’d gone without a deal for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. After the parties met on Jan. 30, a tentative agreement was reached, and ratification votes were held Feb. 3 and 10.

Teachers voted 91 per cent in favour of ratification.

“We are really satisfied and relieved. We didn’t want it to go this far. This process should’ve been solved way earlier. Now that it’s done though, we are very happy about it,” says Eric Cloutier President, L’Unité locale francophone No 24.

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“We didn’t get everything we wanted. We had to make some concessions, but the school board did as well.”

Cloutier said in January that Francophone teachers were being treated as second rate, and were only asking for things other teachers across the province had been afforded.

“Parents really stepped in and said ‘We want this problem to be solved as soon as possible,’” adds Cloutier. “They said this two weeks ago, and then four days later we had a solution. It was really nice to see they backed the teachers.”

The dispute had nothing to do with wages, with Cloutier noting in January that teachers were seeking access to a wellness account and language addressing administrator lieu days.

The ratified deal is two years in length and covers the two school years when no contract was in place. Until another new agreement can be reached, the recently ratified contract will remain in effect.

“Now there’s a break because negotiations will be done between the Alberta Teachers’ Association and provincial government. When that’s done, here on the local level, we’ll negotiate some smaller things like wellness accounts,” Cloutier explains.

“Both parties would not want to do this long negotiation again, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to find a way to go faster next time.”

The ATA is the bargaining agent for all teachers employed in public, separate and francophone school divisions across Alberta.

The Greater North Central Francophone Education Region employs approximately 278 full and part-time teachers.