BRANDON 1922: CRISIS, ULTIMATUM, SOLIDARITY AND COURAGE
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March —2022—Volume 6
Contact info:
1239 Princess Avenue
Brandon, MB R7A 0R3
Phone: (204)-729-3141
Email: office@btateach.com
Deadline for submissions for next issue: April 14th , 2022
BRANDON 1922: CRISIS, ULTIMATUM,
SOLIDARITY AND COURAGE
On Monday, February 27th, 1922, the Brandon School District
summoned its eighty-seven teachers to a meeting after school.
The chair of the school board told them that because of a
shortfall in taxes and a city budget deficit, the board could not
afford to maintain teacher salaries at the current level.
Therefore, the school board asked every teacher it employed to
agree to a 25% reduction in salary. The Board chair told the
teachers that failure to agree would lead to the termination of all
their contracts on April 30.
1921-1922 Teaching staff—Brandon Collegiate Institute
At the time, most teachers were paid no more than $1800 a year. About a third were paid $1100 a year. Seventy-three of
those teachers were women, all of them working at salaries lower than those of their male colleagues.
Though they were to respond that same day, to gain time to consider the board’s demand, the teachers agreed to waive
their right to due notice and met to consider the situation. They concluded that the state of the city finances was not “a
sound and proper principle on which to base a reduction in the salaries of teachers.” They felt the work they were doing
should be the main consideration in determining their salaries. They believed also that years of service should be a factor
in establishing the level of pay. Looking at salaries paid by other school boards, they knew their salaries were not out of
line. Every one of them signed a statement, dated March 3, rejecting the board’s demanded salary cut. Brandon School
District Superintendent Alfred White signed with them.
The school board responded by sending each teacher a letter dated March 4, terminating her or his contract as of April
30. The school board published newspaper advertisements seeking applicants to fill the teaching positions for May and
June, requesting that the applicants state the salary they required.
For the next two months the issue was contested hotly in the city. The teachers received enthusiastic support from their
students, trade unions, and many citizens. On the other hand, the Brandon Sun was very much against the teachers,
running editorials, news stories and letters accusing the teachers of trade unionism and bolshevism. The Brandon
Teachers’ Association bought advertising space and distributed handbills to inform the public of their position. The
recently founded Manitoba Teachers’ Federation published advertisements in provincial and national newspapers
requesting that teachers not apply for positions in Brandon.
The Brandon Teachers’ Association proposed that a provincially-constituted Board of Reference resolve the matter – a
form of arbitration. The school board responded that it did not recognize collectives of teachers, iterating that it hired
staff on an individual basis. Board members would not accept that a third party – that is, a Board of Reference – could
direct them regarding pay for their employees.
The board tried hard to render the teachers’ association ineffective, attempting to negotiate contracts with individual
teachers. The strategy did not work. Not one would do so.
Cont’d on page 4...
In recognition of the ongoing conflict in the
Ukraine
The Brandon Teachers’ Association has
donated $900.00 to support
the Red Cross Ukraine Relief Fund.
BTA MEMBERS WHO PLAN TO RETIRE IN JUNE 2022
BTA Cocktail Reception—Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 7:00 p.m.
at the Victoria Inn (Imperial Ballroom)
If you are planning on retiring at the end of this school year, please contact Sheri Bailey, Executive
Assistant, as soon as possible so that you will be included in this event. Please note the Division
may not share your retirement decision with the Association so I need to hear from you personally.
Each retiree will receive a letter enclosing 2 complimentary tickets to the reception, information on the purchase of any
additional reception tickets for family and friends, as well as information regarding your choice of a retirement gift.
Retirees are asked to forward a biography to the Office of the BTA as soon as possible. This information is
published in a booklet which will serve as an introduction of each retiree. The booklet is distributed at the
reception and a copy is also kept in the Association Office.
We hope to honour the BTA Retirees from the Class of 2020 and 2021 along with this year’s Class of 2022.
Manitoba Teachers Society
1-800-665-0584
Educator Assistance Program
Louise Lamont, Western Region
153—13th Street, Brandon
1-800-555-9336
TRAF
Rm 330 Johnston Terminal
Winnipeg, MB
1-800-782-0714
Manitoba Education
1-800-282-8069
Council of School Leaders (COSL)
1-204-837-3044
cosl@mbteach.org
Certification Branch
Box 700, Russell, R0J 1W0
1-800-667-2378
Maternity & Parent Leave Seminars
Are you planning to take
maternity and/or parental leave?
If you have any questions regarding any provisions of maternity and/or
parental leave please contact the Brandon Teachers’ Association office or
MTS Staff Officer Andrea Zaroda.
Join Andrea Zaroda for a virtual Maternity and Parental Leave Seminar .
To register please email: jalderson@mbteach.org
...Cont’d from page 1
One hundred years ago, on the afternoon of Friday, April 28, eighty-seven Brandon teachers and the school district’s
superintendent – the Brandon 88 – left their schools for the last time.
For the BTA members of 1922, the heart of the situation was a question of morality: was it right for teachers alone,
eighty-seven people, to carry the cost and remedy the city’s financial difficulties? For those teachers, the answer was “No.”
Not one of them gave in to what must have been incredible pressure to surrender and return to work at three-quarters of
their income. With remarkable courage, they stood together and left their jobs. They rejected the school board’s
ultimatum, protecting their own dignity and that of teachers throughout the country.
The courage of the Brandon 88 set the stage for the full development of the Manitoba Teachers’ Federation, now the
Manitoba Teachers’ Society, galvanized support for teacher organizations in western Canada and throughout the country,
and catalyzed the advancement of teacher collective bargaining. Our debt to them is immeasurable.
“Teachers across the Dominion are looking at Brandon - their eyes are on us as teacher-colleagues.
If we submit to this unjust ultimatum, they will say, sadly: ‘Brandon, you let us down!’
We must stand fast for the sake of our profession at large.”
– Duncan McDougall, BTA member of 1922
More detailed accounts of these events can be found in:
Mann, Margaret. (1972). The strike that wasn’t. Brandon: Chalk Talk Publishing.
Mitchell, Tom. (1991). “We Must Stand Fast for the Sake of Our Profession”: Teachers, Collective Bargaining and the Brandon Schools Crisis of 1922, Journal of Canadian
Studies/Revue d’etudes canadiennes, 26 (1), 82-99.
Please note the following important dates:
Apr 1, 2022 DEADLINE—NOMINATIONS FOR BTA PRESIDENT
Apr 6, 2022 DEADLINE—Joint PD Applications
Apr 21, 2022 BTA Quiz Night Victoria Inn, Brandon
Apr 28, 2022 BTA Council Meeting 4:15 Virtual Meeting (Zoom opens 4:00 )
May 1, 2022 100th Anniversary of the Brandon Ultimatum
May 26-28/22 MTS Provincial Council Meeting Winnipeg, MB
May 31, 2022 BTA AGM MEETING TBA
Updates on events and activities will be announced as they become available
CHANGING JOBS WITHIN THE
BRANDON SCHOOL DIVISION
A GUIDE FOR MEMBERS OF THE BRANDON TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION
BTA members exploring a change of assignment should be aware of the following circumstances and options.
A. Internal Placements
If a school is in a position of having to reassign teachers, members working at that school can ask the Principal
to declare them for reassignment. Should it be possible, members declared for reassignment will be competing
for available positions with members unassigned for the upcoming school year. All such members will go
through the reassignment process as follows
• All known vacancies will be posted in April.
• Teachers designated for reassignment can then apply to the vacancies of interest.
• Applications are followed up with an email from the Teacher to HR indicating the competition
numbers they have applied for and their preference for each (i.e 1st, 2nd, 3rd)
• HR will ensure these preferences are provided to the Assistant Superintendent when making
the placement decision.
• Placements are then decided by the Office of the Superintendent, based on seniority, skills,
prior experience and context.
If a reassigned member accepts a position and then finds that their “dream job” has come available, the member
can “apply out” and enter the competition for that position.
B. Open competition for positions
Following completion of internal placements, members can apply for any available, posted positions. A member
who accepts an offer in this situation may not make any further attempt within the current year for a change of
assignment: if such a person’s “dream job” comes available, they will not be allowed to apply for it. Under this
option, a member’s current position is not declared vacant before the member has accepted another position.
Members should be aware they will be completing against a full pool of candidates for these positions.
C. Points to note:
Members signed to Teacher-General contracts or Form 2 contracts (“permanent contracts”) can apply for
temporary (“term”) positions. However, the Division will not assign a teacher with a Teacher-General or
Form 2 contract to a temporary position that is less than a full school year’s duration
Members who are successful in posting to a full year term assignment are classified as a Permanent Teacher
in a Term Assignment and in the following school year, the member may require yet another change of
assignment if the school cannot hold them within the staffing allocation
Accepting such an assignment cannot in any way affect a member’s Teacher-General or Form 2 contract
status (“permanent contract” status) or change whether the member’s status is full-time or part-time.
Members are encouraged to clarify this matter when accepting a change of assignment
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