Professional Support Community College members ratify collective agreement

HALIFAX, June 11, 2013 /CNW/ - Professional Support Staff of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union have voted in favour of the tentative agreement reached between the College and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union on May 24. The online vote took place today.

Eighty per cent of members of Professional Support staff voted 97 per cent in favour of their agreement. The duration of the new collective agreement is from September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2014. The professional support staff bargaining unit includes some 156 professionals such as registrars, librarians, counsellors, student support workers and training coordinators at NSCC campuses across the province.

"We're pleased that our professional support members have ratified this agreement, and to see that the hard work and dedication of both sides have come to fruition," says NSTU president Shelley Morse. "We have ensured settlement of their collective agreement and have now ratified fair and reasonable contracts for all of our members."

"I am grateful for the long hours and tremendous work of both bargaining teams," adds NSCC president Don Bureaux. "They worked together to secure agreement on the many issues around the table; agreement which our professional support colleagues clearly endorsed today."

Highlights of the agreement include the same salary increase as the recent settlement for public school teachers and Community College faculty: a salary increase of 7.5 per cent (7.7 compounded) over three years,with a two per cent increase effective September 1, 2011, a 2.5 per cent increase on September 1, 2012, and three per cent increase on September 1, 2013. It also contains an increase in Total Care Extended Benefits, Dental, for major restoration services like the Faculty and Public School Contracts. Professional support staff have now been allotted an additional professional learning day and are now eligible to engage in the Learning College Portfolio program, in which they can advance their learning to meet professional and organizational goals and receive additional compensation.

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union represents more than 10,000 public school teachers, Community College faculty and professional support staff in Nova Scotia, and teachers who work for the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Since 1895, it has worked to improve the quality of public education for children and youth in Nova Scotia, while promoting and advancing the teaching profession.

SOURCE: Nova Scotia Teachers Union

Angela Murray, NSTU Public Relations Coordinator
(Mobile) 902-497-0194,[email protected], @NSTeachersUnion 

Kathleen Cameron, Sr. Communications Advisor, Nova Scotia Community College
[phone] (mobile) [email protected] , @NSCCNews