Stephen McNeil lukewarm to teacher dispute conciliation board
'We're just looking for clarification from them exactly what it is that they are going to bring to the table'
Premier Stephen McNeil won't agree to the teachers union request for a return to bargaining until it tells him exactly what those discussions will entail.
"We're just looking for clarification from them exactly what it is that they are going to bring to the table," McNeil told reporters at Province House Friday.
On Thursday the president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, Liette Doucet, said the union was asking for a conciliation board to help settle the labour dispute between teachers and the province.
A conciliation board would bring both sides together and eventually report on whether an agreement might be struck. Its recommendations are not binding.
Waiting for union response
Asked if there were issues the province wouldn't discuss, McNeil said he will wait for a response by the union.
The premier has expressed frustration that teachers have twice rejected tentative agreements that union negotiators initially endorsed.
Although both McNeil and his minister of education, Karen Casey, have said the wage and benefits offer by the government is all the province can afford, the premier said he is willing to discuss reopening that package under the condition there are offsetting concessions.
"If they want to retain their long service award, what are they bringing to the table to give up?" he said. "What are they going to do to fit within that benefits package?
"So we need to know whether or not they're prepared to have that conversation. If they're not then we move forward. They made decisions and we'll make them."
He said moving forward meant reaching out to teachers to improve classroom conditions across the province.
Opposition Leader Jamie Baillie isn't impressed by the premier's response.
"This is a horrible political game with our kids year in the classroom on the line. Parents are looking for reasonableness form their elected government and they did not get it today."