Relieved

TRURO - Relief was the word of the day at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) campus with news a teacher's strike was being averted by a last-minute tentative agreement.
"I think if it can get settled without the strike happening the majority of students will feel a lot of relief, because nobody wanted the strike to happen," said Student Association representative Rachel Pelham. "There was definitely concern throughout the whole
campus."
The NSCC gave notice yesterday the Nova Scotia Teachers Union had reached tentative collective agreements on behalf of the college's 900 faculty and professional support employees, thereby averting a strike scheduled for today.
"This has been a very difficult set of negotiations and the NSTU has worked diligently to arrive at a tentative agreement and avoid a strike," union president Alexis Allen said in a news release Monday morning. She said the two sides had reached a tentative agreement late Sunday night.
"We feel this is the best deal possible for our members. The goodwill and spirit of co-operation shown between the NSTU and the college during this trying time have greatly assisted in reaching this agreement."
A date for a ratification vote by the membership is to be announced soon. Details of the agreement will not be available until the agreement has been ratified.
She said over the next couple of days union staff will visit the province's 13 college campuses to brief the union membership on the agreement's details.
The union is seeking wage parity with public school teachers who were given a 2.9 per cent wage increase by the previous Conservative government. However, the NDP government had only offered a one per cent raise, with Premier Darrell Dexter citing restraint because of the province's $592 million deficit.
Public school teachers under their current contract earn salaries that range between $47,074 and $84,010, with an average of $65,646.
College teachers currently earn between $50,373 and $74,544, with a medium average of $61,697.
College support staff, such as registrars, librarians, curriculum developers and student support workers, earn between $41,164 and $77,046.
Dexter had made it clear he expected college management and the union to use the available time ahead of the strike deadline to resume talks and reach an agreement. He also made it clear the provincial government didn't intend to offer more cash in the dispute.
At the legislature Monday, Dexter wasn't willing to get into details about what, if any, role the government played in assisting the sides.
The premier said he wanted to respect a process in which the union membership needed to hear the details from their leadership first.
And that also precluded any comment on whether the province offered more money.
"What we did was we made a decision that was based on the best interests of all the parties. Out of this I believe we got what we needed to get in order to move forward with our planning process," he told reporters.
Dexter did note that in order for there to have been any progress at the bargaining table there had to be some give from both sides and recognition that the province is grappling with a hefty deficit.
"What I can say is that we are pleased with where the file sits now and we're in the position of having to wait and see whether or not this is going to be ratified," he said.
Jeni Tibert, a second year Interactive Motion Graphics student at the Truro campus, said teachers and students alike were relieved a strike appears to have been averted.
"Nobody wins during a strike, so it's better if both sides can come to an agreement," she said. "I'm pretty relieved. I don't have to get my expensive programs at home now."
Melissa McNeill, a second-year Child and Youth Care Worker, said she was initially looking forward to the prospect of having some free study time had a strike gone ahead. But she said those feelings were quickly grounded after becoming better informed.
"I was excited for the strike to happen because I thought I could get some work done but now that I realize what we could've lost, I'm glad that they decided not to go (on strike).
"My teachers said it's definitely a good thing that it did not happen and most of the students that I talked to were relieved that it didn't," she said.
"I'm glad that they didn't go on strike because we're in our second year and we go on placements and it could have got affected by it."
NSCC president Joan McArthur-Blair said in a statement that she too was satisfied with the outcome.
"We must now ensure our NSTU colleagues have time to consider and vote on this tentative agreement while continuing to deliver the first-rate education our students deserve," she said.
The college workers, more than 90 per cent of whom voted in favour of going on strike last month, have been without a contract since Aug. 31, 2008.
A strike would have affected 25,000 students across the province.

- With files from Canadian Press