Teachers in B.C. agree to new contract with provincial government

B.C. teachers have voted to approve a new, three-year collective agreement with the provincial government.

The deal with the B.C. Public School Employers' Association includes general wage increases of two per cent every year along with a mediated process on how to better support negotiations in the future.

The BC Teachers Federation says the agreement was ratified with 98 per cent of its members voting in favour.

The agreement covers just over 45,000 teachers represented by the federation, who work in the province's 60 school districts.

The provincial government says roughly 300,000 public sector employees are now covered by tentative or ratified agreements. The tentative agreement was reached after more than a year of bargaining between the two sides.