As contract talks between teachers and the province enter week three the President of the BC Teachers Federation has some ideas of how to tackle one of the main sticking points, salaries.

When asked about the provincial government’s bargaining mandate of three-year deals with two percent wage hikes per year, Glen Hansman says there are ways to address salaries outside of that.

Hansman says in other public sector union deals under the mandate contracts included things like labour market adjustments or changes to the salary grids.

“Those are some of the conversations that we need to have in terms of what can we do to recognize the fact that B.C. as a jurisdiction is completely out of step when it comes to salaries,” he said.

“Also there are parts of the province that are extremely expensive to live in right now. Housing is a major barrier to recruitment.”

Hansman says a three-year term in any deal is in the ballpark of what the union is also hunting for.