Board, teachers ink deal

After negotiating for six months, the Northwest Catholic District School Board finally ratified a tentative contract with its teachers at last Saturday’s regular meeting in Dryden.
The two-year agreement, which will expire Aug. 31, 2000, should
solve the previous problem of inequities between the former Dryden Separate School Board and the old Fort Frances-Rainy River R.C.S.S. Board.
“The negotiations went very well,” Education Director Paul Jackson said. “There was a positive climate.”
Jackson added the reason for the delay was that the board and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association needed time to analyze the new funding model implemented by the provincial government.
Taking effect Jan. 1, 1999, board teachers will operate on the same salary grid. They also will receive a one percent raise come Sept. 1, 1999 and another 1.5 percent hike Aug. 31, 2000.
The board also will harmonize retirement gratuities. Any teachers coming on after Dec. 31, 1998 will have their retirement fund managed by a a committee of board personnel.
The board will invest an allotted amount per teacher on an annual basis, and each teaching employee will earn interest over their career if they remain with the board.
Jackson referred to the board’s handling of the retirement benefit as a “pay as you go” plan.
Current employees will maintain their current gratuity.
Meanwhile, the allotted “prep time” for teachers will be equalized to 30 minutes a day. Previously, teachers with the old Fort Frances-Rainy River board received 20 minutes per day of prep time while those at the Dryden board got 40 minutes a day.
Additionally, separate school teachers will receive a two-day block of planning and prep time for each of the winter and fall terms. They also will get two “personal leave” days per school year.
Marilyn Tinkess, chief negotiator for the OECTA, stated that after everything was finalized, “Nobody lost.”
“Salary was pretty important and so was prep time,” she noted.
Although Tinkess acknowledged the talks here took some time, she said other boards across the province may have made changes detrimental to their employees due to haste.
“In this case, however, the board left everything as status quo until we could work things out, and I think it’s worked out for the best,” she concluded.