Kelly Regan Speaks Out in Support of Community College Students
As the Nova Scotia drifts inexorably toward a strike by community college teachers and professional staff, I am struck by the government’s lack of compassion for the students caught in the middle of this dispute. In fact, the Minister of Education has repeatedly dismissed a strike as “part of the collective bargaining process”.
I beg to differ: a strike is the failure of the collective bargaining process.
The facts surrounding this dispute are simple:
* Both the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and Nova Scotia Community College agree: teachers should get the 2.9% raise in the second year of the contract.
* The government’s refusal to give NSCC any more money to negotiate with means the college cannot negotiate in good faith. The attempt several weeks ago to return to the bargaining table was doomed to failure because the college had nothing new to offer.
* By attempting to give the NSCC teachers a smaller raise than the one negotiated with public school teachers, the NDP government is in effect creating two classes of teachers in this province. The government has made no convincing argument why the work of college teachers is worth less than that of public school teachers.
* The large deficit that the NDP government continues to cite as reason for the need to limit wage settlements was in fact artificially inflated by their own actions; specifically, by paying out the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the province’s universities a year early. (To add insult to injury, the Deloitte and Touche report into the state of the province’s finances commissioned by the NDP government this summer specifically indicated that advance one-time payments should not be made - the payments should be made in the year they are spent, and they should be made on a quarterly basis.)
* The government continues to maintain that it will not interfere in this process, but the Deputy Premier has in fact repeatedly interfered with Ministerial Statements in the House and letters to the editor about 1 percent raises.
* Now the Premier has refused the union's offer of binding arbitration. When the union first made the offer, the Premier suggested he might agree to the NSTU's offer of binding arbitration, but only if the negotiator took into account the province's ability to pay. This is an ability his government has seriously impeded by inflating the province's deficit. By insisting on this condition, the Premier interfered in the collective bargaining process that he claims he values so much.
I have heard from many teachers who are very concerned about the effect a strike may have on their students. Quite impressively, not one has indicated concern about their own futures; it is their students they have written or spoken to me about.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education’s comments indicate the government views the interruption in the lives of these students as some kind of minor collateral damage in a theoretical “collective bargaining process”.
We have not heard one word from the government to outline how students are going to make up lost time, how apprenticeships can start without adequate classroom hours, how students collecting employment insurance are going to make up lost time.
There is no consideration for students who are here from other countries (what are they supposed to do during a strike --go home?), for students whose jobs will cease if they do not receive accreditation, for students who have families and do not have the luxury of wasted time. These students are attending NSCC because they want better lives. It is not right or fair to use them as pawns in the government’s game of “let’s use this union as an example”.
I sincerely hope there is not a strike. But if there is one, the failure of the collective bargaining process will be laid at the Premier’s door.
And NDP rule will be remembered as “A Bitter Deal for Today’s Families.”
Kelly Regan, MLA
Education Critic for the Official Opposition
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