The government has introduced legislation to amalgamate the 38 separate collective agreements within Manitoba's education department into one.

Today Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen publicized his intentions of creating a single collective agreement between divisions and public school teachers in an effort to simplify the process and reduce the duplication of work. He notes Manitoba is the only province where bargaining is still done in such a fragmented way.

“Individual bargaining creates several challenges for government and school boards including significant variation in agreements and an inefficient bargaining process that is replicated 38 times over,” stated the minister.

If passed, the public schools amendment and Manitoba Teachers' Society amendment act would not impact any collective agreements presently in place. Only once existing collective agreements expire would school divisions and teachers’ associations become part of the new provincial agreement. In that case, The Manitoba Teachers' Society would become the teacher bargaining agent, while the minister of education would appoint the employer bargaining agent to represent school divisions.

“This bill will result in less variation between divisions and ultimately will mean more time spent teaching instead of bargaining, which means better results for students,” said Goertzen.

Meanwhile, the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine (DSFM) maintains its existing bargaining system separate from the provincial framework, in respect of their constitutional education management rights.