A few weeks ago, the Nova Scotia government issued a new funding announcement for school construction as part of its new fiscal plan. $208.5 million, in fact. The announcement was pushed out via the government’s various social media platforms, and was accompanied by an image of a smiling Tim Houston, MLA Brad Johns, and a seemingly quite-pleased-to-hear-about-the-funding-announcement teacher.
Yup, that’s me in the picture, happy as all get out.
Now, for some context, this particular photo was snapped back in November when the Premier was touring my school under the auspices of checking out buildings that are operating at or above capacity. I was on my way to photocopy when I ran into Minister Johns in the hallway and stopped to chat. I’ve known Brad politically for many years now, as before he was an MLA, Brad Johns was a city councilor for my school’s municipal district.
We were chatting about my school’s upcoming production of “Annie” (Tickets $14.00 each, on sale soon) when the Premier (who I’ve met exactly twice) emerged from a classroom and, somewhat to my surprise, made a point of coming over and greeting me exceptionally warmly. He seemed genuinely happy to see me. There was a quick joke at Minister Johns’ expense about wanting free tickets to the show, a brief conversation about overcrowding at our school, then I went about my day.
Lo and behold, four months later, there’s my picture being used to show how happy teachers are with the Houston government.
Nice.
When it comes to their relationship with teachers, this has been the image that the government has wanted to promote. There has been a tremendous amount of emphasis on the part of both Premier Houston and Education Minister Becky Druhan that they are genuinely interested in rebuilding some of the relational bridges burned during Stephen McNeils “Reign of Error.” Minister Druhan has been out and about touring various educational institutions “listening to teachers” and seeming to be fully engaged in the process of addressing their concerns. The government has directed the DoEECD to engage in a review of the provincial code of conduct, and there has been talk of a new committee to address school violence. From the outside looking in, things seem rather, well, rosy.
However, even the most optimistic of Nova Scotians might want to reconsider that impression based on the fact that the NSTU, which is currently in bargaining with said government, has called for a strike vote to take place on April 11th.
Through ten months of negotiations the government bargaining team has seemingly been unwilling to address any of the union’s concerns. According to NSTU President Ryan Lutes, “We have many issues in our public schools and they’re not willing or don’t seem to be willing to address any of them”. To emphasize the severity of the situation, Lutes pointed to a recent survey that showed 84% of teachers have considered leaving the profession in the last five years.
Coupled with those alarming numbers is the Premier’s own admission recently that the province is having a difficult time recruiting new teachers to replenish the ranks. In fact, at his party’s most recent AGM, the Premier proposed that the solution to this quandary was to lower the qualifications for those seeking a B.Ed. That plan, by the way, would require agreement from the NSTU, which had not been consulted prior to the announcement.
So let’s review. The government wants to appear to be working hand in hand with the NSTU in dealing with staffing shortages by addressing teacher issues, but at the same time wants to devalue the profession by reducing qualifications and is forcing teachers into a strike position rather than meaningfully addressing the aforementioned issues.
I’m not quite sure how those two strategies can occupy the same space at the same time.
I have absolutely no doubt that the teachers of this province will overwhelmingly hand their bargaining team a strike mandate on April 11th. A great many lessons were learned by the rank and file teachers during the MacNeil era, and when the Liberals played dirty, it left a mark. As one teacher put it to me the other day, “Back then I was just angry. Now, I’m demoralized and angry”. Many feel that, for the sake of themselves, their schools and their students, they have no other choice but to force the government’s hand. The current situation is simply unsustainable.
The real question, of course, is what happens after that.
The two sides are currently working with a conciliator, and there are still several meetings scheduled to take place between now and the allowable date for any potential job action. However, it was the NSTU who actually requested the conciliator, and now it is NSTU that has called for a strike vote. Even the casual observer can probably conclude that whatever offer is on the table is not sufficient enough to prevent job action of some kind in the foreseeable future.
That means for all intents and purposes, the ball is squarely in the “We are listening” government’s court.
There is another angle to this story the bears mentioning.
Currently, an election is being held to determine our next NSTU provincial president, and I am one of several teachers, passionate and capable unionists all, running for the position. Although I can’t imagine that the Premier had much to do with selecting this particular photo, I also don’t doubt that it was chosen intentionally. Indeed, it was only days after I announced my candidacy that my image suddenly appeared in a government propaganda piece.
I am here to tell you that should I win that particular position, the next time he lays eyes on me, the Premier will undoubtedly be much, much less happy to see me coming.
frostededucation 