{"id":902,"date":"2014-01-27T22:36:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T05:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/?p=902"},"modified":"2014-01-27T22:49:58","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T05:49:58","slug":"bc-teachers-win-collective-bargaining-rights-case-2-million-in-damages-bced-bcpoli-ubcte-yteubc-criticaled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/2014\/01\/27\/bc-teachers-win-collective-bargaining-rights-case-2-million-in-damages-bced-bcpoli-ubcte-yteubc-criticaled\/","title":{"rendered":"BC Teachers win collective bargaining rights case, $2 million in damages #bced #bcpoli #ubcte #yteubc #criticaled"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>British Columbia Teachers’ Federation<\/a>, January 27, 2014–\u00a0Teachers across BC are celebrating today\u2019s ruling by the BC Supreme Court<\/a>, reaffirming that provincial legislation limiting teachers\u2019 bargaining rights is unconstitutional, restoring collective agreement provisions stripped in 2002, and ordering the province to pay $2 million in damages plus court costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy today,\u201d said BCTF President Jim Iker<\/a>. \u201cThis is the end of a long and costly legal battle for the teachers of BC. It\u2019s a great day for democracy, and for all working people across BC and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iker noted that the legislation was already declared unconstitutional in 2011, and the judge gave government one year to rectify the situation. However, government simply reintroduced the same unconstitutional provisions.<\/p>\n

By removing class-size limits and class-composition guarantees, the government did significant damage to learning conditions in schools across the province.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren who were in Kindergarten when those bills were passed are now in Grade 12, and have spent their entire school careers in larger classes with fewer resources,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cFor the past 12 years, thousands of children couldn\u2019t get the services they needed because government broke the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation removed provisions that guaranteed smaller classes, support for students with special needs, and services from teacher-librarians, counsellors, and other specialists. Government then cut hundreds of millions of dollars a year from public education budgets, forcing school boards to cut programs and close more than 200 public schools. More than 3,500 teaching positions, including 1,500 specialist teachers, were also cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf government had respected the Charter, teachers would not have had to spend the past dozen years fighting for our rights,\u201d Iker said. \u201cNow we expect that government will do everything necessary to demonstrate respect for the court\u2019s ruling and make the situation right. Restore our smaller classes, rehire our specialist colleagues, and help us rebuild the excellent public education system that British Columbians expect for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download full BC Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n

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Background<\/strong><\/p>\n