The agreement was supplemented by other languages to ensure that teachers who have been transferred to the territory make available at least one year of service or the duration of the contract, depending on their date. “I am pleased that the two sides have reached an agreement together that benefits all NWT stakeholders,” said R.J. Simpson, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. “I am very proud of our teachers and their unwavering commitment to the unprecedented challenges facing our education system this year. It is wonderful to see a fair agreement that provides stability and security during perhaps the most difficult school year of our teaching career. It is part of the new one-year collective agreement between the Northwest Territories Teachers` Association (NWTTA) and the territory government, according to a press release issued Monday. The wage increase is in line with that achieved by the rest of the government`s public service in April. The Northwest Territories government`s current agreement with the NWTTA expires on July 31, 2020, but remains in effect until a new agreement is reached. “Negotiating a new collective agreement can be a challenge, even under ideal conditions, and the current fiscal and economic uncertainty is much less ideal. We are grateful for the positive relationship with NWTTA, which has helped address these unique challenges,” Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek said in a statement.
“It is wonderful to see a fair agreement that provides stability and security during perhaps the most difficult school year of our teaching career,” Education, Culture and Employment Minister R.J. Simpson said in a statement. In a September 2019 newsletter distributed to the 800 educators represented by the NWTTA, Oliver said the current collective agreement had not increased teachers in the first two years and had increased by 1% over the past two years. Teachers in the Northwest Territories receive a 2.5 per cent pay increase through a new one-year collective agreement (CA). The NWT Teachers` Association (NWTTA) and the territory government began negotiations on Tuesday for a new collective agreement. Miller said the group was pleased to have secured the one-year collective agreement with the government in the midst of a pandemic, as videoconferencing negotiations have taken place. Negotiations on the separate collective agreements YK1 and Yellowknife Catholic Schools will take place in the fall, Oliver said. Both agreements expire on August 31. “The collective agreement …
It could not have been achieved if, in these difficult times, we had not focused on stability and safety for our NWT educators and students,” she said. The new agreement came into force on August 1 and will continue until July 31, 2021. The agreement lasts only one year because of the pandemic, Matthew Miller, president of the Northwest Teachers` Association, said in an email to CBC. It will be renegotiated at the end of this school year. NWTTA President Matthew Miller said he was pleased that the agreement was reached at a time when schools were closed because of the Covid 19 pandemic. Other strengths of the agreement are the changes to northern life assistance, which includes a $450 increase in the base used by rate predators, the statement said. The current collective agreement also launched the initiative to strengthen the practice of teacher teaching (Stip), which redirected 100 hours of teaching time to teachers` personal planning time.