HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia Teachers Union is resuming work-to-rule on Monday, saying it has lost confidence in Premier Stephen McNeil amid a tussle over the purpose of two new "self-directed days" offered in a tentative agreement.

McNeil said this week the non-teaching days were meant for marking and classroom preparation, but NSTU president Liette Doucet said Friday the union had understood the tentative agreement allowed teachers to decide how to use them.

The union had originally described them as "two paid days off" in a memo to its 9,300 members.

"The premier is already backing away from commitments made in the new tentative agreement," she said in a news release Friday.

"If the premier is capable of misleading our members about two self-directed development days, then he is capable of misleading parents about the $20 million outlined in the deal to improve classroom conditions.”

Doucet, who was not available for an interview, said documents received in the collective bargaining process indicated the teachers could use the days as they decided.

The text of the proposed contract refers to the days as "leave with pay ... for self-directed preparation/development of the teacher."

In a handout provided to union members, the NSTU states these days are "two paid days per year for their own purposes," giving the examples of attending their children's hockey tournament or having "a long weekend."

The premier said Friday he doesn't believe there should be any confusion over what the clause means and disagreed with the union's interpretation.

McNeil said the days are meant for preparation time and marking time for teachers.

"At no time during our conversation has that been part of the conversation. I think any reasonable Nova Scotian would tell you that when teachers were telling us that classroom conditions were what their focus was, that if they were going to have more time that it would be for prep in those classrooms or marking," he said.

McNeil was asked what he would say to parents about a potential return to work-to-rule.

"I have a responsibility not only to deal with the bargaining unit but to ensure that I can provide services to all Nova Scotians," he said in Wolfville, N.S., at a meeting of Atlantic Canadian premiers and several federal ministers.

He said his government has made investments in the classroom and is prepared to do more to improve the system.

"I need to have this contract behind us so we can continue to work to make sure we can make those investments."

Union members have twice rejected contract agreements recommended by the union executive and voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike.

Teachers will vote on the latest agreement Feb. 8.

The two days off had become the focus of negative attention in recent days.

A former candidate for the leadership of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union said he opposed the tentative deal because it sent the wrong message about what the contract dispute was originally about — including better funding and supports for special needs students.

Paul Wozney, communications director for a Halifax local of the 9,300-member union, said he feared the provision giving teachers two more days off didn't clearly communicate that the fight was to boost funding in classrooms to improve education for students and teachers.

"They (the public) will focus on the fact that after teachers very publicly and loudly, with the support of thousands of parents and students, said we're going to stand up and fight for measures that improve classrooms for teachers and students now, and the defining feature of the deal is two more days off," he said.

The teachers' last contract expired on July 31, 2015.

Teachers began a work-to-rule campaign on Dec. 5 that had a sweeping effect on school life across Nova Scotia, cancelling shows, trips and sports. The union told teachers they should only report for work 20 minutes before class starts and leave 20 minutes after the school day ends.

They had started phasing out the campaign on Monday, following the tentative deal.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Wolfville, N.S.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2017