A resolution regarding a single provincial bargaining table for Manitoba public school teachers put forth for the Manitoba School Boards Association’s (MSBA) annual general meeting had some trustees worried during the March 13 meeting of the Flin Flon School Board.
In early February, the Manitoba government indicated it plans to move from the current 38 collective bargaining units for public school teachers to a single provincial bargaining table. Manitoba is presently the only province where teacher collective bargaining is negotiated separately between each school board and its local teachers’ association.
A resolution put forth for the MSBA annual general meeting by the Fort La Bosse School Division recommends that in the event the provincial government legislates provincial bargaining for public school teachers, collective bargaining on all items takes place at one bargaining table. That school division noted that two-tier bargaining, where salary and monetary items are negotiated at a central table while remaining items are bargained on a local level has been unsuccessful in other provinces.
However, Flin Flon School Board trustee Trish Sattelberger expressed concern that if the resolution is carried, Flin Flon may lose advantage when it comes to attracting teachers.
Sattelberger explained that when it comes to northern and rural areas, a memorandum of understanding may be built into a contract to attract staff to remote locations.
“If you left it the way it was for everybody the same, we wouldn’t get that attraction of people to come,” said Sattelberger.
“Sometimes it’s monetary attraction, sometimes it’s extra days of vacation or travel. With looking at this [resolution] … it talks about leveling the playing field. I’m kind of worried that by leveling the playing field, we’re flattening out the players … You need those kinds of perks in the centre sometimes because we are far.”
Sattelberger was instructed to make a draft of her concerns.
When asked what a transition to a single provincial bargaining table could mean for teachers in Flin Flon, Bobbi Willetts, president of the Flin Flon Teachers Association declined to comment, noting the details of a provincial bargaining plan are unclear.
