The BC Teachers Federation has reached a tentative agreement with the province on a new three-year contract.

The agreement was reached on Friday after “several long days of negotiations” and communicated to BCTF members by email on Sunday, Oct. 30.

“After months of negotiations, we have reached a tentative agreement with significant salary gains and other important improvements,” the BCTF said, in a statement on twitter Monday morning.

The three-year deal will see new BCTF members making around $6,000 to $8,500 more per year, while some of the highest paid teachers will get a significant pay boost of $10,000 to $13,500 more per year by the third year.

“These salary gains will help address recruitment and retention challenges in B.C. as well as affordability issues for many members,” the BCTF added, noting some of its members will get close to, or even exceed, salaries teachers in places like Calgary and Toronto.

“If ratified, this tentative agreement will take BC teachers from near the lowest paid teachers in Canada into the top tier. Catching up to Canada’s best paid teachers has been a priority for the BCTF for many years.”

The deal, which does not include a signing bonus, has been put to the 49,000 teachers represented by the BCTF for ratification, with the vote set to take place between Nov. 16 and 18.

“There are significant achievements – shortening the grid, eliminating the lowest step and helping with recruitment and retainment of teachers, improving salary, and creating long-lasting benefits for teachers’ pensions and retirement security,” added the BCTF statement.

“Despite the challenges and frustrations of negotiating workload, we are confident that the tentative agreement is a big step forward, especially on salary and benefits.”

The two sides have been negotiating since the middle of March and the teachers’ current contract expired at the end of June.

– With files from The Canadian Press

After months of negotiations, we have reached a tentative agreement with significant salary gains and other important improvements. The BCTF Executive Committee is recommending the deal to #bced teachers. The ratification vote will take place November 16-18. #bcpoli Thread 🧵

— BCTF (@bctf) October 31, 2022