N.B. teachers getting wage increase over five years with new collective agreement

New Brunswick public school teachers are getting a wage raise over the next five years.

New Brunswick’s 7,800 public school teachers will receive a 14.5 per cent wage increase over five years, with a new collective agreement signed on Wednesday.

The contract won support from 93 per cent of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Federation’s membership last month, representing teachers from kindergarten to Grade 12.

“We heard from teachers, they need more support,” said Premier Susan Holt at the contract signing on Wednesday. “They’ve been experiencing burnout. They want support in their classrooms, and they want support for their work. They want more colleagues around to share the load and build teams.”

The new agreement includes a recruitment adjustment of one per cent upon signing of the agreement, and one per cent on March 1, 2030. The agreement also provides a retention premium for teachers with longer service, including one per cent after 15 years, two per cent after 20 years and three per cent after 25 years.

Specific questions about the agreement, including the dollar amount budgeted for the contract, were not answered on Wednesday. Reporters asked for a signed copy of the contact, but none were provided by deadline.

Heidi Ryder, president of the New Brunswick Teachers Association, said the new contract would help in the recruitment and retention of teachers.

“We’re very pleased with how it turned out,” said Ryder, who pointed to parts of the agreement addressing classroom and lesson planning time.

“I can point to one which would be prep-time replacement. If teachers are filling in for absent teachers, which happens fairly often and more frequently than we would like to see, they will now have that prep time replaced at a later time when supply is available,” said Ryder. “There are a number of things like that will really make an improvement in teacher’s’ lives.”

With files from The Canadian Press’s Eli Ridder and CTV News Atlantic’s Sean Mott

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