Lower wages, no benefits: Substitute teachers in Yukon petition to join union

Geoff Abbott has lived in Yukon for a long time, and has worked as a teacher in the past. He recently returned to the classroom as a certified substitute teacher — and he wants to join the teachers' union.

But he says Yukon's teachers on call (TOCs) have no union, so they can't bargain for better conditions and pay.

Abbott has now started a petition to have TOCs represented by the Yukon Teachers Association (YTA). He's set up a Facebook page, run newspaper ads, and talked to other substitute teachers about joining the YTA. 

"The situation right now in the Yukon territory is that it is the only jurisdiction where teachers on call, also known as substitute teachers, are not represented by any type of association and/or union," he said.

Other Yukon government auxiliary workers, such as nurses and family support workers, have had union representation since 1990 (by the Yukon Employees Union).   

Abbott says teachers on call don't get any benefits or access to professional development opportunities in Yukon.

Another issue is wages — Abbott says Yukon TOCs are paid less per day than those in other jurisdictions.

He says in Victoria, TOCs are paid $360 per day, while those in Kelowna, B.C. are paid $280. In New Brunswick, substitute teachers are receiving $240.  

"In all cases, those rates of pay were higher than what they are here in the Yukon for us certified teachers on call," says Abbott. "Here we get just over $200 per day, and we don't get any benefits or access to any professional development opportunities."

He says he's talked to about 50 TOCs who also say they want to be represented by the teachers' union.

TOCs haven't been represented by the YTA for 28 years. Under Yukon law, substitute teachers are excluded from union representation.

The Yukon government would have to change territorial legislation in order to allow TOC to be represented by the YTA.

Abbott is hopeful the YTA will take his petition to the Yukon government, "to say, there are these many teachers on call in the territory. And we have a majority of them who are saying, 'look, we do want to join an association.'"

The YTA supports the effort.

"We certainly wouldn't exclude them, and auxiliaries in the rest of the Yukon government have been represented since 1990 under Yukon Employees Union," said Carol Sherlock, YTA vice-president.

"And so here we are 28 years later, and TOCs are still being marginalized and mistreated by Yukon government. That doesn't feel fair and equitable to me," Sherlock said.

Nobody from the Yukon government would provide comment.