CBC: Labor unrest spreads in BC
Thousands of CUPE workers across northern British Columbia are expected to walk off the job Tuesday in support of striking teachers, a day after union supporters shut down many services in the provincial capital.
The Globe and Mail:
BC teachers still have public’s support
Striking B.C. teachers continue to have the support of residents in that province, a new poll suggests, but it also finds a fairly even split when it comes to the issue of whether it is time to go back to the classroom. According to the results of a survey conducted by Ipsos Reid, the majority of those polled — about 57 per cent — say they side with the teachers in the continuing contract dispute with the provincial government.
Thousands march in support of teachers
Mary Johnston awoke at 4 a.m. yesterday for a field trip unlike any she had ever been on. The Maple Ridge teacher caught a bus to Victoria with fellow teachers from Fairview Elementary. Three buses from her school district were making the early-morning trek to the capital. On a dreary Monday morning, when she would have been in her Grade 2 classroom hanging Halloween decorations, Ms. Johnston was instead marching at the legislature to protest.
Teachers face criminal contempt probe
The legal vise is beginning to tighten around tens of thousands of public school teachers in British Columbia, now on the seventh day of an illegal strike that has shut classrooms across the province.
The Vancouver Sun:
A day of defiance; More walkouts, protests coming to support teachers, unions say
More labour protests and walkouts to pressure the provincial Liberal government to make a deal with 38,000 striking teachers will hit northern B.C. today and escalate elsewhere in the province after that, union leaders said Monday.
Court to consider fines, criminal contempt charges; Prosecutor appointed to probe teachers’ actions
The B.C. Supreme Court is expected to consider financial penalties against the B.C. Teachers’ Federation today while also looking at whether charges of criminal contempt might be needed to persuade the union to end its strike.
“Solid” support for BC teachers; Just under 60 per cent of BC residents sympathize with the teachers, poll shows
Public support for B.C.’s striking teachers has remained steady at just under 60 per cent since their province-wide illegal strike began, a new Ipsos Reid poll has found.
Cernetig: Liberals didn’t bargain for confrontation
Gliding through the halls of the legislature two weeks ago, as the showdown with teachers grew seemingly more intractable, Labour Minister Mike de Jong was downright dismissive when asked if things might be starting to spiral out of control.
From the streets of Victoria
You couldn’t find a B.C. Transit bus, take trash to the dump or attend some classes at Camosun College and the University of Victoria on Monday morning, as unionized staff across Victoria walked off the job to protest the provincial government’s handling of the teachers’ dispute.
Q & A on the special prosecutor
Day of protests stalls Victoria; Many government services disrupted
Photo credit: bmann’s photostream on FlickrThe Globe and Mail
B.C. teachers still have public’s support: poll
By TERRY WEBER
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Posted at 12:20 PM EDT
Globe and Mail Update
Striking B.C. teachers continue to have the support of residents in that province, a new poll suggests, but it also finds a fairly even split when it comes to the issue of whether it is time to go back to the classroom.
According to the results of a survey conducted by Ipsos Reid, the majority of those polled — about 57 per cent — say they side with the teachers in the continuing contract dispute with the provincial government.
About one-third, meanwhile, said they were on the side of the government and B.C.’s public school board.
The poll also found, however, that not all of those who back the teachers think the 12-day walkout should continue.
Advertisements
The results of the survey, conducted over the weekend, suggested that about 47 per cent say they approve of the strike action taken so far and think the teachers should continue to hold out.
The other half either never supported the strike or said that, while they back the action taken to this point, it is now time to go back to work.
The survey comes as the bitter dispute, now in its 11th day, moves back into the courtroom.
On Tuesday, the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association is scheduled to appear before B.C. Supreme Court Judge Brenda Brown to ask that stiff fines be imposed over the teachers’ refusal to end what the provincial labour board has deemed an illegal strike. The hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. local time.
The teachers walked off the job on Oct. 7 in what a calling a political protest triggered by the province’s decision to pass legislation imposing a new two-year contract.
The contract carries no wage increase over that period, whereas the teachers have asked for 15 per cent. The union also insists, however, that the bigger issue in the dispute is the government’s refusal to negotiate on issues of class size and composition and its efforts to force a contract on the province’s public school teachers.
Almost immediately after the walkout, the labour board ruled the strike illegal and ordered teachers to return to work. Judge Brown later upheld that ruling and, when the B.C. Teachers’ Federation didn’t comply, she effectively froze the union’s assets, making it impossible for it to pay striking teachers their $50-a-day picket pay.
B.C.’s criminal justice branch has now also hired a special prosecutor to look at whether the union should face criminal-contempt charges for its refusal to call off the strike.
In Tuesday’s action, the public school employers will ask the judge to impose “significant” fines on top of the asset freeze already in place under the civil contempt finding.
“The reason we started this whole thing is to try to have some way of bringing a message to allow the schools to be back open and have the teachers return to school,” lawyer Nazeer Mitha, who represents the public school employers, told Broadcast News.
“That’s the reason we initiated the process in the first place. That’s the reason we’re continuing the process.”
So far the teachers have held firm in their decision to stay off the job. Other unions have rallied behind them. On Monday, thousands gathered at the B.C. legislature to protest the government’s actions, disrupting transit and other services in some centres. The B.C. Federation of Labour has hinted at further sympathetic action by some of its members if the standoff continues.
On Tuesday, the Canadian Union of Public Employees had targeted the northern part of the province, with a rally planned outside B.C. Education Minister Shirley Bond’s Prince George office.
In neighbouring communities, CUPE is asking its members to join teachers on the picket lines.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, meanwhile, has insisted that the province will not go back to the table as long as teachers continue to flout the court order.
“The fact of the matter is, in a civil society, we must obey the law,” he said in a televised address Monday.
In Tuesday’s Ipsos-Reid survey, about six in 10 people polled said they disagreed with the province’s decision to legislate an end to the dispute. Five in 10 said they “strongly” disagreed with the move.
Four in 10 said they approved the province’s efforts.
On the issue of the court-imposed freeze on the teachers’ federation’s assets, 54 per cent said they approved, while 43 per cent disapproved.
B.C. residents were also divided on the pay issue. About 46 per cent said teachers are underpaid, while 45 per cent think teachers are overpaid.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Globe and Mail
Thousands march in support of teachers
‘We will not be broken,’ union president tells crowd gathered at B.C. Legislature
By TOM HAWTHORN
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Page S1
Special to The Globe and Mail
VICTORIA — Mary Johnston awoke at 4 a.m. yesterday for a field trip unlike any she had ever been on.
The Maple Ridge teacher caught a bus to Victoria with fellow teachers from Fairview Elementary.
Three buses from her school district were making the early-morning trek to the capital.
On a dreary Monday morning, when she would have been in her Grade 2 classroom hanging Halloween decorations, Ms. Johnston was instead marching at the legislature to protest.
Advertisements
She is one of 38,000 teachers whose walkout has been declared illegal and whose union’s assets have been frozen by the courts.
“We don’t feel like we’re breaking a law,” she said, “because it’s a bad law.”
While such sentiment might not earn a passing grade at law school, the scofflaw teacher was not alone in her opinion yesterday, as organized labour called a rally that shut down many government services in the city.
Libraries were closed and city buses were left at the terminal after picket lines appeared. As well, liquor stores and recreation centres were shut down for the day, as those workers joined teachers and others at downtown Centennial Square before parading south along the Government Street tourist strip to the lawn of the legislature.
On a day when Premier Gordon Campbell once again insisted teachers had to obey the law, the thousands who gathered in Victoria cheered on the teachers in their defiance.
Jinny Sims, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, was greeted like a rock star at the rally.
“There is a big difference between breaking a law and having a law created to break you,” she told the rally.
“We will not be broken.”
The government passed Bill 12 on Oct. 7, imposing an extension of the existing contract on teachers. Their union wants to negotiate a collective agreement, although now the government is refusing to meet with them as they defy a court order to return to work.
“Gordon Campbell has tried to divide us,” Ms. Sims told the crowd of more than 8,000.
“He’s tried to threaten us with the courts. We as teachers have a great deal of respect for the courts. We have no respect for laws that are just unjust.”
She spoke shortly after Vancouver lawyer Leonard Doust was appointed as an independent special prosecutor. He will decide whether to launch criminal contempt proceedings.
Last Thursday, Madam Justice Brenda Brown of B.C. Supreme Court ordered the teachers’ union funds to be placed in a trusteeship as punishment for being in contempt of court. The decision prevents union members from receiving $50 a day in strike pay.
Ms. Sims, a 53-year-old teacher from Nanaimo, said her only experience with the courts in the past has been to bring students to trials as part of their studies.
The rally was the first of what could become daily events in cities across the province. Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, told the crowd the dispute could be settled only if the government is willing to negotiate with the teachers.
“Get off your high horse and get down to the table and start talking,” Mr. Sinclair told the rally.
The personal nature of the dispute, which affects about 600,000 public-school pupils from kindergarten to Grade 12, led Mr. Sinclair to give public thanks to his son, Lee Croll, who is in his graduating year at a Vancouver secondary school. Mr. Sinclair apologized to his son for being unable to see him in the past week while dealing with the dispute.
Some in the crowd greeted the speeches with chants of “general strike.”
The rally included its share of bizarre costumes, including a bone-waving protester in a caveman’s singlet, as well as two others in rat costumes complete with long pink tails.
Marchers were led by students acting as pallbearers for a coffin labelled “Education RIP.”
The procession marched in a spirit more festive than sombre, as drums kept a rhythm and one marcher rang an old-fashioned, hand-held school bell.
Michael Bendle, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Qualicum Beach, marched with Molly, an Irish wheaten terrier. The dog’s raincoat carried the message: “Education is going to the dogs.”
The Premier’s mug shot from his 2003 arrest for impaired driving in Hawaii was popular artwork for many signs. “This is what illegal looks like,” read one. “Bill 12, another example of impaired judgment.”
One sign read, “Hey, Gordo, kiss my assets.”
Another handmade sign repeated a catchphrase in use in schools around the province: “If you feel bullied, you need to tell someone.”
The teachers were in good spirits despite a drenching rain. Aboard the ferry on the way to Victoria, Paula Howart of Maple Ridge sang parody lyrics to Johnny Cash’s I Walk the Line. Her crystalline voice usually entertains the 27 students in her Grade 4 class at Fairview.
The day’s protest led some to wax nostalgic about their early days as teachers. Ms. Johnston, the Grade 2 teacher, recalled her first field trip as a teacher 33 years ago, which included a visit to Victoria. She was 20, the principal and only teacher at a one-room schoolhouse in the majestic wilderness of the Chilcotin, about 200 kilometres west of Williams Lake.
She brought 13 children, a majority of them aboriginal, to the big city, where they asked to see how chocolate was made. She suspects none of them ever forgot the experience. Even now, it makes her glad to be a teacher.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Globe and Mail
Striking B.C. teachers face criminal contempt probe
By ROD MICKLEBURGH
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Page A1
VANCOUVER — The legal vise is beginning to tighten around tens of thousands of public school teachers in British Columbia, now on the seventh day of an illegal strike that has shut classrooms across the province.
Even as trade unionists shut down much of the city of Victoria yesterday in a strong show of support for the teachers, a special prosecutor was appointed to determine whether criminal contempt charges should be laid against the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and its members.
In court yesterday, special prosecutor Len Doust said it is already apparent that some of the teachers’ conduct “comes perilously close” to criminal contempt of court.
At the same time, the teacher’s federation is also facing the renewed possibility of heavy fines at a further court hearing today. The hearing was sought by representatives of the province’s school boards, who have become increasingly frustrated by the ongoing shutdown.
Advertisements
An innovative, earlier order by Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown freezing the teachers’ strike fund and other union assets has not lessened the teachers’ resolve to stay off the job until they have a negotiated settlement.
Federation president Jinny Sims remained defiant in the face of the day’s legal developments, which included a fervent plea from Premier Gordon Campbell to obey the law.
Teachers will not be deterred by external threats, Ms. Sims told a huge, cheering crowd that braved drenching rain to attend an anti-government protest rally outside the legislature in Victoria.
“Mr. Campbell, stop threatening us. Stop trying to divide us. It will not work. We will not be broken,” declared the 53-year-old Nanaimo high-school teacher, who has said she is prepared to go to jail in defence of the union’s strike.
The dispute is beginning to spread beyond the teachers’ picket lines into a confrontation with the province’s entire labour movement.
B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair called yesterday’s organized-labour protest in Victoria, which shut bus service, mail delivery and many other government services, just the taste of things to come if the conflict is not resolved.
At least one other single-day, regional labour shutdown is expected to take place this week. Meanwhile members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees are launching their own job action. They are expected to be off the job today at work sites in Prince George and other northern cities.
The teacher’s federation launched its illegal walkout Oct. 7, after the government extended the teachers’ existing contract by legislation for two years, providing no wage increase and no improvement in working conditions.
Since then, the government and the union have been locked in a grim stalemate.
The teachers insist they must have a negotiated deal before they return to work, while the government is equally adamant that there can be no talks with the teachers’ federation until the union ends its illegal strike.
Judge Brown found the teachers’ union in civil contempt of court on Oct. 9 for ignoring a back-to-work order filed earlier in B.C. Supreme Court.
“We don’t get to obey the laws we like and disobey the laws we don’t like. That is the central issue here,” said Premier Campbell, making his first formal statement on the escalating crisis since his return to British Columbia late last week from a cross-country tour to discuss aboriginal issues.
“This is not a labour dispute. This is a question of law.”
Mr. Campbell said the government, including himself, is willing to talk to teachers about all sorts of issues, including the contentious issue of class size, but only after they go back to work.
“We have a duty as legislators to stand up for the courts, to stand behind the law and not allow anyone to put themselves above the law. . . . The law has to be obeyed.”
The Premier added that his government had nothing to do with the decision to appoint Mr. Doust, the special prosecutor.
Mr. Doust was selected for the task by the criminal justice branch of the provincial Attorney-General’s Ministry. He is one of the province’s most respected lawyers, having previously prosecuted such high-profile defendants as Todd Bertuzzi, Svend Robinson and the two accused in the Air-India trial.
“The criminal justice branch is a totally autonomous body,” Mr. Campbell said. “We had nothing to do with the appointment whatsoever.”
In court, despite his belief that actions by the teachers were close to criminal contempt of court, Mr. Doust told Judge Brown that he intended to proceed cautiously for the moment.
He said he did not want to interfere with the judge’s own civil contempt of court proceedings.
However, Judge Brown said that the issue of criminal contempt, which generally calls for much stiffer penalties, including possible jail time, than civil contempt of court, has been on her mind, because teachers have not obeyed her previous order.
She asked lawyers for both the teachers’ federation and the school boards to turn their minds to the question too, ahead of today’s hearing.
More than 10,000 protesters attended yesterday’s pro-teacher rally in Victoria, packing the legislature’s large soggy lawn.
One protest sign called the rally: “Lesson Day for Gordon”.
Teacher Don Stevenson travelled from Port Alberni. “We are not happy with the way we’ve been treated in negotiations and we’re not going to take it any more. We’re fed up.”
The only hopeful sign in the bitter deadlock was continuing communications between union leaders such as Mr. Sinclair and deputy Labour minister Rick Connolly.
But otherwise, each side is waiting for the other to make the first move.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A day of defiance
More walkouts, protests coming to support teachers, unions say
Doug Ward and Miro Cernetig
Vancouver Sun
October 18, 2005
CREDIT: Chuck Stoody, Canadian Press
Thousands gather on the lawn of the legislature in Victoria on a rainy Monday to show support for B.C.’s striking teachers and to pressure the government to make a deal.
VICTORIA — More labour protests and walkouts to pressure the provincial Liberal government to make a deal with 38,000 striking teachers will hit northern B.C. today and escalate elsewhere in the province after that, union leaders said Monday.
The warnings came after 12,000 teachers and their supporters descended on the B.C. legislature lawn Monday to demand that Premier Gordon Campbell begin negotiating an end to an illegal strike that hit schools on Oct. 7, keeping more than 600,000 students out of classrooms.
In what they are warning is a taste of what is to come, unionized municipal workers and other public servants walked off the job on Vancouver Island in a noisy, raucous demonstration that paralysed Victoria’s downtown and disrupted bus service and government services for much of the day.
“I say to Mr. Campbell on behalf of British Columbians: Get off the high horse and get down to the table and start talking,” B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair told the crowd, which bristled with signs reading, “Zero tolerance for bullying,” “Don’t discount teachers,” and “Gandhi, Mandela, Walesa and BCTF.”
One speaker was interrupted with chants of “General strike! general strike!”
Sinclair warned that unless the government agrees to talks with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, the rotating walkouts will seriously escalate on Wednesday, with private-sector workers joining public-sector workers in a large-scale shutdown in an undisclosed region of the province.
But the premier showed no signs Monday of backing down. After his government imposed a contract on the teachers when bargaining stalled, triggering the strike, Campbell vowed not to negotiate with teachers, or any other group that disobeys the law or the courts.
On Monday, he held to that position. “No elected official can condone or in any way support any group acting in contempt of the courts or contempt of the laws that are democratically passed by a democratically elected legislature,” Campbell told reporters.
“The law is the very foundation of a democratic society,” he said. “The courts are our highest authority. The fundamental task of any government is to stand behind the courts and stand up for the rule of law.”
Campbell’s views were repeated by B.C. business leaders Monday.
Jerry Lampert, president of the B.C. Business Council, accused the labour movement of using the teachers’ dispute to hammer the Liberal government.
“They are flouting the law,” said Lampert. “They are leading us down the road to anarchy.”
But NDP leader Carole James, who walked through the massive protest but did not give a speech, said the Liberal government has created the crisis by using legislation to force a deal.
“The government should sit down with teachers and work out a deal,” said James, warning that the impasse should be ended before it mushrooms into broader action. “I don’t want to see a general strike. I don’t want to see people not returning to work. It’s the premier who has to show some leadership and step up to the plate. He missed an opportunity again today.”
Asked why she did not take the opportunity Monday to tell teachers to obey the law and return to work, as she has stated she believes they should, she replied: “I’m not giving teachers direction. It’s not up to me.
“People should follow the law. I’ve made that statement. I’ve made that statement publicly. People accept consequences when they don’t follow the law. Teachers know that . . . .”
Sinclair told reporters there will be another protest Wednesday, at an undisclosed region, that would include provincial government employees, municipal workers, forest workers “and everybody else.”
He added: “This is a signal to the government. They’ve picked a fight. We’re not running from it. And they’ve now been told by the rest of the labour movement that it’s everybody’s fight.”
Sinclair refused to provide any schedule of walkouts, but said:
“Nobody is giving up. Does it sound like anybody here is giving up?”
Today’s protests in northern B.C. communities including Prince George, Terrace and Quesnel are being staged by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Walkouts are expected by about 15,000 CUPE workers at post-secondary institutions, municipal workplaces, regional districts, and recreation centres.
All CUPE members on Vancouver Island were off the job Monday, said CUPE B.C. president Barry O’Neill.
“This is infuriating that this government has put itself in a box where they say they won’t talk to a trade union in British Columbia,” said O’Neill. “We have done this numerous times in British Columbia. We’ve been out with court injunctions and this has not stopped this government from sitting at the table. And what do they have to lose?”
BCTF president Jinny Sims, speaking to the rally, thanked members of CUPE, the Telecommunications Workers Union and other unions who set up Monday’s pickets in Victoria, shutting down buses, university classes and some mail delivery.
“The feeling of unity and solidarity around this legislature is absolutely amazing. Let’s hope Mr. Campbell is paying attention,” said Sims.
“All we want from Gordon Campbell and his representatives is a [bargaining] table,” Sims told the rally. “Instead of providing time for us, this government has the time to go to court, to persecute teachers.”
Sims said her membership is determined to stay off the job until the Campbell government agrees to negotiations.
The BCTF president told the rally that “there is a difference between breaking the law and having the law created to break you.
“Mr. Campbell, stop threatening us. Stop dividing us. It will not work.”
Afterwards, Sims said her union’s strategy hasn’t been changed by the government’s appointment of a special prosecutor to examine whether criminal charges could be laid against the teachers for defying a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that their strike is illegal.
Sims said the government must agree to some class-size numbers, adding that this guarantee could be placed in the School Act rather than in the collective agreement.
The BCTF also wants a process related to supporting special needs children.
“We’ve gone so far in getting the government to the table that now they have to make a move,” Sims told reporters.
Sims said labour and government officials are trying to open “some lines of communications but so far we haven’t got a table.”
The Supreme Court has frozen the BCTF’s assets so the union cannot provide strike pay. Sims said the BCTF did not pay for the buses that brought teachers and other union employees from the Lower Mainland to Victoria.
“Some of our locals had booked the buses a long time ago, before the court ruling came out,” said Sims. “We told our locals that we could not pick up the cost.”
During his speech to the rally, Sinclair thanked his Grade 12 son Lee Croll, who has been out of school for six days and has barely seen his mother, who is a picket captain, or his father, who has been busy with the dispute.
dward@png.canwest.com
mcernetig@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Court to consider fines, criminal contempt charges
Prosecutor appointed to probe teachers’ actions
Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun
October 18, 2005
CREDIT: Ray Smith, Victoria Times Colonist
B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair speaks at the BCTF rally on the front steps of the Legislature in Victoria, Monday.
To listen to story, click link .
The B.C. Supreme Court is expected to consider financial penalties against the B.C. Teachers’ Federation today while also looking at whether charges of criminal contempt might be needed to persuade the union to end its strike.
Monday, the government appointed an independent special prosecutor — prominent Vancouver lawyer Len Doust — to examine whether criminal contempt charges are warranted and, if so, whether it would be in the public interest to proceed.
The court has already found the union guilty of civil contempt for continuing its illegal walkout and, last week, Justice Brenda Brown also ordered the union to stop using its assets to finance the strike.
Doust made a brief appearance before Brown Monday, saying he had reviewed her earlier rulings and had been monitoring the union’s actions.
“It has become apparent that some of the [conduct] displayed to date comes perilously close to criminal contempt of court,” he noted.
But he said he would proceed only after receiving direction from the court.
Brown, who has spoken firmly to the union in the past about the need to obey the law, replied that criminal contempt proceedings have also been on her mind. She adjourned the matter until today, when she will also consider another request from the B.C. Public School Employers Association for hefty fines against the union for its defiance of the court order.
Criminal contempt proceedings, which experts say are highly unusual in labour disputes, are a step beyond civil proceedings and have a higher standard of proof. Criminal proceedings would also allow heavier penalties, including the possibility of jail for union leaders and fines against individual teachers, although labour expert Ken Thornicroft said neither of those are expected soon.
The last time a union leader was jailed in B.C. was in 1967.
“This is just the next step on the path,” said Thornicroft, a University of Victoria labour relations professor. “They [the government] are just raising the pressure on the union.”
Doust did not speak to reporters after his brief appearance in court, but Stan Lowe, a spokesman for the attorney-general’s ministry, said Doust is not an advocate for either party in the dispute. His role as an independent special prosecutor is to assist the court in ensuring that the rule of law prevails, he added.
Asked about the difference between civil contempt and criminal contempt, Lowe said: “Criminal contempt is disobeyance of an order that brings the administration of justice into disrepute, [leaving] the public with an image of scorn towards the justice system. It’s a more significant finding.”
He refused to comment on possible penalties.
Lawyers for the employers association said they had no involvement in Doust’s appointment and they expect to continue with the civil proceedings today. Mike Hancock said the association will argue again today for stiff penalties against the union in an effort to re-open schools that have been closed since Oct. 7th.
Today marks the seventh day that almost 600,000 students have been out of school.
“We are very frustrated that schools are still closed,” Hancock told reporters outside the court. “We’re going on over a week now since the court ordered teachers back to work and, in our view, this isn’t the way a democratic society functions.”
Union lawyers did not comment inside our outside the court about possible criminal proceedings.
As of Monday, both parties were still firmly entrenched, with the union saying it won’t end its strike until the government agrees to discuss its contract demands and the government saying it won’t meet the union until it ends the work stoppage. The walkout was sparked by a government bill that extended the current contract by two years, expiring in June 2006.
Thornicroft said he was not immediately aware of another labour dispute in B.C. that brought criminal contempt proceedings, although such charges have been laid in logging protests and land disputes. The best known case of criminal contempt in a labour feud was in 1988, when the United Nurses of Alberta was found guilty and fined a total of $400,000.
Still, he said he wasn’t surprised to hear the possibility of such charges being discussed, noting that criminal contempt is considered when there is “flagrant and public defiance” of a court ruling. “I have felt that they were very vulnerable to criminal contempt right from the get-go,” Thornicroft added.
The hiring of an independent prosecutor is appropriate, he added, because it creates distance between government and the legal process. Although the government is not technically a party to the dispute, it is publicly regarded as being involved because it finances the education system, Thornicroft said.
“I think what the government is trying to do is to keep as much room as possible between itself and any harsh sanctions. They’re going to need to repair the relationship at some time.”
jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘Solid’ support for B.C. teachers
Just under 60 per cent of B.C. residents sympathize with the teachers, a poll shows
Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver sun
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
CREDIT: Darren Stone, Victoria Times Colonist
Protesters attend a rally at the B.C. legislature in Victoria Monday to support striking teachers in their protracted battle to negotiate a new contract after the provincial government extended the life of the previous agreement.
Public support for B.C.’s striking teachers has remained steady at just under 60 per cent since their province-wide illegal strike began, a new Ipsos Reid poll has found.
“The teachers have done well in that their level of support has stayed solid despite going on strike and despite it being declared an illegal strike,” said Kyle Braid, vice- president of Ipsos Reid. “It indicates that parents and the public are prepared to be patient,” he said.
In the poll — which was conducted between Oct. 14 and 16 — 57 per cent of people said they side with the teachers and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, as opposed to 34 per cent who side with the public school boards and the government.
In a similar poll conducted by Ipsos Reid on the previous weekend, support for the teachers was at 55 per cent, with 33 per cent siding with the government and the B.C. Public School Employers Association.
B.C.’s public school teachers walked off the job Oct. 7. Last Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown found the teachers in contempt of court and froze the BCTF’s assets so it cannot pay strike pay, or otherwise support the strike.
In an interview Monday, Braid said the continuing support for teachers is stronger than he had anticipated.
“Given they have been on strike for more than a week, to have half the public say, ‘Stay out’ is a pretty strong number,” he said.
“I think it reflects an overall view among people that teachers might deserve a raise and that legislating them back to work is a harsh thing to do,” he added.
“This reflects sympathy for the job that teachers do.”
Braid also pointed out that more women support the teachers than men, with 60 per cent of women backing the teachers versus 52 per cent of men.
“It’s the classic: men care more about finances and women care more about the softer issues such as health care and education,” Braid said, adding women are more likely to have contact with the school system than men.
Plus, he added, men have traditionally lent greater approval to the Liberal government’s stance on education than have women.
Though close to 60 per cent of all those polled supported supported the teachers, that dropped slightly when people were asked if they believe the strike should continue.
The majority, however, still said they had approved of the action taken so far.
In total, 61 per cent said they approved of the strike, though only 47 per cent said they thought it should continue.
The others said they approve of the action taken so far, but feel it is time for the teachers to return to the classroom.
jfowlie@png.canwest.com
– – –
PUBLIC STILL BACKING TEACHERS
Support for teachers has remained virtually unchanged despite one week of an illegal strike’
What is your opinion of the strike?
– approve and it should continue 47%
– approve, but teachers should go back to work now 14%
– disapprove of the strike 37%
Don’t know, no opinion 2%
Are BC’s public school teachers overpaid, underpaid or paid about the right amount for the work they do?
Overpaid 6%
Underpaid 46%
Paid about right 39%
Don’t know/no opinion 9%
Note: Survey conducted between Oct. 14 and 16, with a sample of 600 adult B.C. residents. Results are considered accurate to within +/- 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Source: Ipsos Reid VANCOUVER SUN
Ran with fact box “Public Still Backing Teachers”, which has been appended to the end of the story.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday » October 18 » 2005
Liberals didn’t bargain on a confrontation
The premier’s strategists misread the mood of the teachers and the public
Miro Cernetig
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
VICTORIA — Gliding through the halls of the legislature two weeks ago, as the showdown with teachers grew seemingly more intractable, Labour Minister Mike de Jong was downright dismissive when asked if things might be starting to spiral out of control.
“What spiral out of control?” the minister shot back, confident and seemingly surprised by such a suggestion.
His was the attitude of the Liberal government itself.
From the start, the Liberal strategists were betting this dispute with 38,000 teachers — triggered Oct. 3 after the government imposed a contract on them by legislative fiat — could be stick-handled into place. There did seem to be a convincing logic behind the government’s belief it could avoid a full-blown confrontation with B.C.’s labour movement.
For one thing, some 130 other public service unions had swallowed a zero-per-cent wage increase in earlier contracts, part of the Liberal government’s plan to rein in costs. The Liberals reasoned those union members — not to mention taxpayers who re-elected them — weren’t likely to have too much empathy for teachers who were demanding they were an exception to the rule and should get a pay hike.
It was also thought by the Liberal strategists that if 38,000 teachers did dare to shut down the province’s classrooms, as they have now done for seven days, there would be an almost instant public backlash. Few parents are happy when their children are kept from the books and their day care and baby-sitting costs go up.
But just five months into their second mandate, there are signs that the Liberals have badly miscalculated both the politics of the situation and the public mood.
You could sense that when the sergeant-at-arms had to order the front window of the legislature shut Monday to try and seal out the less-than-parliamentary jeers wafting in from the legislature’s front lawn: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Gordon Campbell’s got to go.”
This protest had nowhere near the size or volatility of the demonstrations in the early 1980s, during the “solidarity movement” that nearly brought B.C. to a halt as labour fought a Socred government bent on reducing unions’ power.
Still, it gave many pause. It was unexpected in its size and the anger was palpable. Even though the windows and doors were shut, the chants emanating from more than 12,000 teachers and unionized workers on the legislature’s front lawn were still loud enough to be heard indoors by the politicians,
Even Campbell, while sticking to his position that it would be an abandonment of “the rule of law” for a government to negotiate with people who break laws they don’t like, implicitly acknowledged a miscalculation had been made. His government had underestimated labour’s wrath after the government opted to legislate the teachers back to work.
“I certainly agree that we anticipated that people would obey the law, there’s no question about that,” Campbell told reporters at a news conference arranged as protesters began marching toward the capital.
“In the past, every time a government has imposed a contract or legislated a solution . . . people would obey the law.”
What might be even more alarming for the Liberal government is that it appears to have misread the broader public view of this dispute and how it should be handled.
A poll published Monday by Ipsos Reid found that so far, 57 per cent of British Columbians support the teachers and their bargaining group, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. Only 34 per cent backed the government and school boards.
Equally worth noting is that 63 per cent of those surveyed in the poll disapprove of the premier’s decision to legislate a contract. About 36 per cent approve of the government’s strategy.
These are not the sort of reviews the Liberal government anticipated a few weeks ago, when it embarked on this fight with teachers. And what may be most disconcerting of all for Campbell is that the public’s less-than-glowing impression of his government’s performance on this dispute up to now is showing signs of sticking.
“These results,” the pollsters noted, ” are virtually unchanged from an Ipsos Reid poll taken one week ago.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Day of protests stalls Victoria
Many government services disrupted
Victoria Times Colonist
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
VICTORIA — You couldn’t find a B.C. Transit bus, take trash to the dump or attend some classes at Camosun College and the University of Victoria on Monday morning, as unionized staff across Victoria walked off the job to protest the provincial government’s handling of the teachers’ dispute.
– rovincial government offices, recreation centres and liquor stores were closed, as was the head office of B.C. Ferries Services on Fort Street. There was no disruption to ferry service, said spokeswoman Deborah Marshall, and ferry traffic was heavy during the early sailings as bus-loads of Lower Mainland teachers and others made the trip to Vancouver Island.
Information pickets also closed Victoria parkades and stopped Canada Post trucks from leaving the downtown plant, halting postal service for the day.
The steady downpour through the morning made for a frustrating commute, especially for those waiting for buses that never arrived. Striking Telus employees threw up a picket line at the B.C. Transit depots in time to stop the morning buses. Transit workers, members of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 333, refused to cross the Telus lines.
The pickets came down at 2:30 p.m.
About half the classes at Camosun were cancelled, said Susan Hanton, director of college and community relations. The information pickets at UVic cancelled about half the regular classes.
Victoria city hall remained open but only limited service was available, said Mayor Alan Lowe.
City staff who left work to support the protest would not be paid, said Lowe.
–
Organized labour’s day of protest caused frustration by shutting down municipal libraries, recreation centres and seniors’ centres.
One man who wanted to use the Greater Victoria Public Library, spat in disgust when he encountered a CUPE picket line, and saw the closed doors behind the line.
CUPE library clerk Jenny Griffin said she chose to support teachers because they have an incredibly hard job.
“Parents give up their children to their care and safety all day and they just don’t teach them math and science, they teach them manners and values. They have an important role in our society.”
– olice were called before 9 a.m. to Broughton Street when a man in a pickup truck drove into the knees of picketers walking back and forth, according to union supporter Larry Martell.
“He didn’t want to say anything except ‘F… you.’ It led to a sad altercation,” Martell said. “It shows the frustration.”
Reaction from people Monday was polarized, Martell said. “There’s a lot of hostility on one side and a lot of support on the other.”
–
One clear winner emerged from Monday’s protest rally: the Fields store just down from Victoria city hall.
Fields sold 80-100 umbrellas to marchers who marshalled in the pouring rain at nearby Centennial Square.
Likewise, the Blenz coffee shop, after a slow start to the day — no buses, no business — was packed with placard-toting protesters eagerly queuing up for hot drinks.
–
It wasn’t as long as the Victoria Day Parade, but Monday’s march did leave an impression. It took 37 minutes for participants to stream through the intersection of Government and Humboldt. Police halted traffic as the protesters approached each cross street between Centennial Square and the legislature.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Questions and Answers
Darah Hansen
Vancouver Sun
October 18, 2005
The provincial government appointed Vancouver lawyer Len Doust as an independent special prosecutor to investigate whether criminal contempt charges should be laid against illegally striking teachers. Here are answers to questions about the appointment.
What is a special prosecutor?
The role of a special prosecutor, as set out in the provincial Crown Counsel Act, is to examine all relevant information and documents to determine if evidence in a case merits charge approval. The special prosecutor is also responsible for conduct of the prosecution should the matter go to trial.
Stan Lowe, a spokesman for the provincial Attorney-General’s Ministry, said a special prosecutor is independent of any party involved in the dispute. His role is to assist the court in ensuring that the rule of law prevails.
Who makes the appointment?
A special prosector is appointed by the assistant deputy attorney-general if he or she believes such an appointment is in the public interest. In this case, Len Doust, a prominent Vancouver lawyer, has been appointed to determine whether the teachers’ union’s actions meet charge-approval standards for criminal contempt of court.
When have special prosecutors been appointed
in the past?
Special prosecutors have been used numerous times to probe allegations of wrongdoing among public figures.
Recently, Doust was appointed as a special prosecutor to decide whether charges should be laid after an altercation between Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt and a street beggar left the politician with a cut on his face. Doust told the Attorney-General’s Ministry there was not a substantial likelihood Mayencourt would be convicted if charged with assault.
In other high-profile cases, Bob Wright served as a special prosecutor for the Air India bombing, and former appeal court judge Martin Taylor joined Vancouver lawyer Bill Smart to look into allegations that former premier Glen Clark accepted free home renovations while the contractor had a casino application under government consideration
Special prosecutors have been used in a number of other situations as well.
In 1996, Taylor was a special prosecutor in a case involving the conduct of West Vancouver police officers who were found to have cancelled traffic tickets for former Vancouver Canucks hockey player Cliff Ronning and a West Vancouver resident with consular plates. No charges were laid in the case.
Why was a special prosecutor appointed in this case?
Labour experts say the appointment of a special prosecutor is appropriate in the teachers’ dispute in order to create distance between government and the legal process. Although the government is not technically a party to the teacher’s dispute, it is publicly regarded as being involved because it finances the education system.
What will the special prosecutor do now?
Doust told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown on Monday that he will review her earlier rulings that declared the teachers’ union to be in civil contempt of a court order. He is also monitoring the union’s activities, he told the court, adding that what he’s seen so far “comes perilously close to criminal contempt of court.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
Follow
