Teachers overwhelmingly vote to give union strike mandate

HALIFAX – Ninety-six per cent of members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union voted to give its executive a strike mandate Tuesday, putting pressure on the province to find a solution to avoid a potential disruption to the school year.

Union President Liette Doucet said the vote sends a “strong message” to the Stephen McNeil Liberal government that teachers'”want better education for their students and want more supports.”

“They stood up today and very loudly said ‘we are ready to fight for that,'” she said.

With substitute teachers that worked on Tuesday eligible to vote, NSTU said voter turnout was over 100 per cent of the 9,300 public school members, which Doucet said showed a “unified front.”

A conciliators report was filed with the province last week, meaning under the Teachers’ Collective Bargaining Act, the union would need to wait mandated 14-day and 30-day ‘cooling-off periods’ before it could invoke a 48-hour strike notice or take any other potential job action.

The earliest a job action could be considered is Dec. 3 and despite an overwhelming mandate, Doucet could not comment on potential actions, but said decisions would be made moving forward.

“We don’t want to strike, teachers don’t want to strike, teachers want to be in front of their students and so we’ll be looking for solutions,” she said, but added teachers have also said they’re willing to strike if necessary.

The result wasn’t a surprise to Doucet, who previously said she was confident the executive would receive a strike mandate, the first since the fall of 2002, which was also backed by a 96 per cent vote.

In its history, however, the NSTU has never called an outright strike, as in 2002 both sides agreed to binding arbitration.

Electronic polls were open until 8 p.m. Tuesday to allow the 9,300 members to vote on the move, the next after two tentative deals between the province and the union’s bargaining unit were swiftly rejected by members.

The latest tentative deal was shot down by 70 per cent of members Oct. 4, while the previous rejection came last winter before the Liberals introduced Bill 148, legislation to impose a wage package on public sector unions should no deal be reached with respective bargaining units.

According to the union, the stalemate remains because of a lack of government commitment to address classroom concerns, something Education Minister Karen Casey has said can be discussed separately during a working committee struck by the province.

Doucet said teachers are overall seeking a cost-of-living wage increase and government investments in areas of student development.

Earlier this week, in a video recorded by his staff, Premier Stephen McNeil said the government would accept the results of the vote from teachers but wanted to tell Nova Scotians the union had already turned down a “fair deal.”

“We did not have a fair deal, we were at the table, however, it wasn’t free and clear collective bargaining,” Doucet said Tuesday.

“Our hands were tied by Bill 148…so many of the things we asked for they could not come through with because there wasn’t any money on the table at all.”

In a statement after the results were released, Casey called the vote a “disappointment for parents and students, and for government” after two tentative deals were voted down by union membership.

“I want to assure parents and guardians that their child’s education is a priority for government,” the statement said.

“The teachers union admitted a strike will cause short-term pain for students – that’s not the best way to address challenges in our classrooms, the best way to do that is to avoid disruptions for today’s students.”

When asked if the union had a message for parents and students that could be affected, Doucet said she and many other teachers are parents and want the best for their children.

“We all want the same thing.”

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