Manitoba’s francophone teachers will receive similar salary top-ups as their colleagues in other public schools, but their new contract will ensure they earn higher amounts faster.
The Association des éducatrices et des éducateurs franco-manitobains announced Friday its members had voted overwhelmingly in support of a long-awaited deal.
The new contract covers four school years, between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2026. It includes general wage increases of 2.5, 2.75, three and three per cent, in addition to a one per cent “retention adjustment” in the final year.
A harmonized salary scale, to take effect in 2026, has nine steps versus 10 outlined in the equivalent document for English teachers.
A teacher with a four-year bachelor of education degree will begin earning $70,379 and hit a ceiling of $106,615 after nine years on the job.
For the most educated and experienced teachers, each of whom requires a master’s degree, that range is $84,414 to $126,481.
“For us, those are really just differences to just reflect that we have unique challenges as francophones. There’s different challenges for retention,” said Desirée Pappel, president of the local union for approximately 700 teachers.
Pappel said 95 per cent of members voted in favour of the agreement this week.
The association declined to share exact turnout figures, but its president indicated the number was “high.”
The minimum of 210 minutes of prep time per five-day cycle remains unchanged.
Pappel said it was important to negotiators to protect that article because it can be a time-consuming process to find resources in French and often, teachers have to translate English ones.
Other details in the contract mirror those laid out in an English version, including improved leave options and compensation for summer professional development.
The Manitoba Teachers’ Society and school boards association approved the first provincial agreement for English and immersion teachers across the province ahead of the 2024-25 school year.
The mega-contract replaces 37 deals that had been bargained at the school division level.
Francophones are excluded from the comprehensive bargaining process in recognition of special minority language rights.
A spokesman for the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine’s governing board celebrated the agreement in a news release Friday.
“The ratification of this collective agreement is important to ensure the continuity of student learning,” Bernard Lesage, president of the Commission scolaire franco-manitobaine, said in a news release published in French.
The deal’s contents acknowledge the unique role every teacher plays in developing students’ francophone identities and protecting the French language in communities across Manitoba, Lesage said.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Maggie was an intern at the Free Press twice while earning her degree at Ryerson’s School of Journalism (now Toronto Metropolitan University) before joining the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
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