The Yukon Association of Education Professionals has a new deal with the territorial government.

“On Jan. 26, members of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals voted to ratify a new three-year collective agreement with the Government of Yukon,” said a news release.

“The new agreement will be in place until June 30, 2024.”

Negotiations began in May 2021 to replace the previous collective agreement, which expired on June 30, 2021.

Teachers in the Yukon start at an annual base pay of $54,011 and can earn a maximum of $114, 866 per year.

Aimee O’Connor, a spokeswoman for the Public Service Commission, provided more details to the Star on Tuesday afternoon.

She said the highlights included “yearly salary increases totalling 5.35 per cent over three years.

“All staff will see a general wage increase of 1.75 per cent during the first year and 1.80 per cent during the following two years of the agreement.”

Also provided for:

•A 7.5-per-cent increase in pay for teachers-on-call effective upon ratification;

•A change of title from “Aboriginal Language Teacher” to “Yukon First Nations Language Teacher”;

•Additional levels of pay based on qualifications for Yukon First Nations language teachers and educational assistants;

•An increase to days in lieu for principals, vice-principals and team leaders from two to four days per school year for school management responsibilities, which recognize the leadership and management duties they perform outside of the regular school calendar; and

•Embedding of summer programming remuneration into agreement for school staff who provide school programming in the summer.

“Thank you to the bargaining teams at the Government of Yukon and the Yukon Association for Education Professionals, who have reached a collective agreement that benefits Yukon educators while being fair and financially responsible,” said the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, John Streicker.

“I would like to acknowledge the very tough job our education professionals have had during the pandemic and thank them for their dedication to learning.”

Streicker said it “was a good agreement for the government.” He hopes it’s also a good agreement for the association, which has had a hard time over the last two years dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic.

“Things have been tough for them,” he said. It’s good to have reached an agreeement.”

Ted Hupé, the president of the association, said “The Yukon Association of Education Professionals thanks the Government of Yukon for the opportunity to negotiate a new collective agreement to provide workplace certainty during these challenging times.”

The association represents 1,186 current members including teachers, Yukon First Nations language teachers, educational assistants, teachers-on-call and other education professionals throughout the Yukon.