A new contract between the Flin Flon School Division and its teachers has set what one media outlet calls a “costly benchmark” for other Manitoba school divisions.
Flin Flon trustees have approved a four-year deal with teachers that grants raises of two per cent in each of the next three years and three per cent in the final year.
Flin Flon is the first school division to come to terms with teachers after all teaching contracts across Manitoba expired on June 30.
In a lengthy piece published July 12, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the contract sets a “costly benchmark for other school divisions.”
New standard
It is now expected that other teachers’ unions in Manitoba will point to the Flin Flon deal as the standard for the province.
Manitoba Teachers’ Society president Paul Olson told the Free Press that he was surprised by how quickly the deal was reached.
The contract was all the more surprising considering the Flin Flon School Division apparently took flack from the province for setting a high benchmark with its previous contract, which was also the first in Manitoba.
Flin Flon School Division superintendent Blaine Veitch told the Free Press last fall that after the last contract was signed, “word came down from on high” the provincial government was not pleased.
Nonetheless, trustees viewed the compounded raise of 9.32 per cent as a fair price to pay for labour peace until June 2018.
The Flin Flon division has budgeted spending $13.72 million in 2014-15, a rise of $425,900, or 3.2 per cent, over last year.
Two other Manitoba school divisions, St. James-Assiniboia and Seven Oaks, have reached tentative deals that give teachers two per cent raises each year for three years.
