The New Westminster Teachers' Union president was met with cheers Tuesday morning when he turned up on the picket line after news that a marathon bargaining session had brought a tentative deal between the union and the government.
The breakthrough in negotiations came at about 4 a.m. on the sixth day of talks between the two sides with the help of mediator Vince Ready.
"It's a good day," Grant Osborne told The Record, summing up the relief felt by many in the face of a long-awaited deal in the bitter labour battle that has lagged on for weeks. "There's great relief. They are already moving to how quickly can we get into classrooms, how quickly are kids going to be back."
The strike has helped heighten public awareness on concerns teachers have around the size of classes and the number of special needs students in classes, the union president said.
"I think in the weeks we've been out, people have started to realize this really isn't about wages and benefits," Osborne said, "it's about class size and composition. It's about supports for students."
The details of the tentative agreement haven't been released at press time, though Osborne said he heard the deal is six years with an approximately seven per cent raise.
"This is all anecdotal," he noted, adding he had yet to see anything in writing.
Details on class size and composition were also yet to be released.
"We would not be signing an agreement if E80 was still on the table," Osborne said, referring to the controversial concession, which the union felt would undo its court wins around class size and composition.
Earlier this year, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the provincial government must retroactively restore class size and composition language that was removed from teachers' contracts in 2002. The province is appealing the decision.
The union and the government have a long history of difficult labour disputes.
"It's a good deal for everybody because at the end of the day it was negotiated," Osborne said. "Legislation would have been so terrible for everybody. We would have been back here again. We need time to rebuild and to heal."
The teachers are slated to vote on the deal Thursday, which means the earliest New Westminster's more than 6,000 students could be in classrooms is by Monday, superintendent John Gaiptman said.
"At this point, it is about having educators going back to the classroom and opening up the schools for our students, and for that alone, I am truly elated," said Gapitman.
