Support from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) has been recognized by the Provincial government as the exclusive bargaining agent for teachers who are employed by a school board in Nova Scotia.¹ All public schools are currently administered by school boards. Therefore, all teachers in the public system are bound by the collective agreement between the Minister and the NSTU. This agreement defines the employers' responsibilities, salaries, duties, certification, days and hours of instruction, terms and benefits, leave and retirement, termination and grievance procedures. Interim legislation to enable the Community-Operated Public School will transfer powers of school boards to the local governing body, opening up the possibility that its teachers will not necessarily be part of the bargaining unit subject to the collective agreement. However, the union status of the locally governed school is dependent on the wording of the legislation and the interpretation of the collective agreement.

Moreover, the good will of the union and unionized teachers is needed for any long-term success of locally-governed schools. In order to give the Community-Operated Public School pilot the best chance of succeeding and to avoid compromising the future careers of its teachers, accommodation for the pilot project and its teachers will be acquired from the NSTU. Such accommodation will consent to the employment and direction of human resources by the school and its governing body and will be defined in a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum will allow flexibility in classroom organization, student-teacher ratios, hours of instruction, duties and salary ranges. It will acknowledge that teachers will have membership in the governing body and will participate in defining the terms of employment. It will also acknowledge that both the NSTU and the Community-Operated Public School share the goal of maximizing educational opportunities for students and the desire to mutually benefit from the outcomes and evaluation of the pilot project.