St. Albert’s Francophone teachers will vote this Wednesday on a deal that, if approved, would pull them back from the brink of a strike.
The Conseil scholaire Centre-Norde and the Alberta Teachers’ Association announced Jan. 30 they had reached a tentative agreement for the board’s teachers for the 2018-2020 school years.
Centre-Nord teachers have been working without a collective agreement for 2.5 years. Talks reached an impasse last month, with teachers set to strike and the board threatening to lock them out. Either move would have kicked some 600 St. Albert and Sturgeon County students out of school.
Parents made it clear to teachers and trustees they had to find a solution to this dispute, said Éric Cloutier, president of L’Unité locale francophone No. 24 (which represents Centre-Norde’s 350 teachers).
“We both sat down on Saturday and everything went well. We waited for two years and a half, and last Saturday in four hours we had a deal, so I’m very happy.”
While he could not disclose the terms of the agreement, Cloutier previously told the Gazette the three main issues in this dispute were wellness accounts, volunteer time and days off for principals.
Cloutier said teachers would vote on the deal Feb. 3, with board members to follow on Feb. 10. If both ratified the agreement, a strike/lockout would be averted.
Cloutier said he is very confident that the deal would pass, and that talks would continue if it doesn’t.
“Parents are relieved. They didn’t want a strike and they didn’t want a lockout.”
Centre-Nord officials declined a request for comment on this proposed agreement.
