The Yukon Teachers’ Association (YTA) is taking the territorial government to court over its plan to post job openings this spring, before offering those positions to teachers who will be laid off this summer.

The YTA claims this is in violation of their collective agreement, which promises job priority to teachers in the system before openings are posted publicly.

The YTA is seeking an injunction from the courts that will bar the government from posting positions for the 2020-21 school year before offering those positions to staff who were laid off in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years.

YTA president Sue Ross told the Star Wednesday that the government’s decision to post job openings is a pivot from practices established last hiring season, after the implementation of the collective agreement.

“I truly do not understand the government’s position,” Ross said. 

She explained that last spring, a number of teachers in the system experienced layoffs and were offered positions at other schools before those openings were advertised to the public. 

During a meeting on Feb. 18, Ross was informed by officials of the Education department that the government would change its approach, and intended to post vacant teaching positions for the 2020-21 school year prior to June 8.

Ross was also informed that a number of teachers would be laid off prior to the end of the school year, and those teachers would be required to submit applications in competition with members of the general public.

Ross told the Star she was taken aback by the meeting, which she believes violates the collective agreement, which states that employees represented by the YTA are entitled to re-employment without competition for a period of two years after being laid off.

In her affidavit, Ross states that requiring laid-off teachers to compete for positions would deny employees the job security they are entitled to through the collective agreement, potentially forcing teachers to leave the Yukon to seek employment. 

She added that the government’s actions undermine the relationship between the YTA and its members, injuring the confidence teachers have in the association. She called the damage “irreparable.” 

Approximately five meetings took place between the YTA and the government before the decision was made to go to court, Ross told the Star.

She was told that teachers are not officially laid off until the school year is over, even if they have received layoff notices. This means teachers aren’t entitled to job offers while they’re still technically employed.

“They’re sticking to their interpretation … (that teachers) are not laid off until the last day of school, but then, unfortunately, all the good jobs will be gone,” Ross said.

She said she met with government officials on Feb. 6, 13, 18 and last Friday.

That day, it became clear that a resolution would not be reached, and the union immediately filed a petition to the Yukon Supreme Court.

During Wednesday’s question period in the legislature, Yukon Party MLA Scott Kent challenged Tracy-Anne McPhee, the minister of Education, to abandon the rehiring plans and “get out of court.”

McPhee responded that she expected Kent to know better than to ask questions related to matters before the court, which she would not comment on. 

“On occasion, parties who have the best interests of children in mind do disagree,” McPhee said.

She refuted Kent’s accusations that the government has repeatedly excluded and disagreed with the teachers’ association.

She said the issue is a dispute with interpretation, and she looks forward to a resolution being found.