No end in sight to B.C. teachers’ dispute, Minister suggests union is to blame
Thursday, September 22, 2005 Page S3
Canadian Press, with a report from Petti Fong
VICTORIA — Hopes of a settlement in the B.C. teachers’ dispute are fading, even with the appointment of a fact-finder, says Education Minister Shirley Bond.
“I’m having less optimism every day,” she said yesterday at the B.C. Legislature. “I think we need to hear where the parties are at in this set of circumstances, but quite frankly there seems to be a little less will to come back to the table in a meaningful way.”
Ms. Bond appeared to lay most of the blame for the impasse in negotiations with the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation.
“Let’s face it, these groups have had 40 bargaining sessions over the course of months, and during that period of time, the BCTF still has not tabled their salary proposals,” she said. “Tell me how meaningful that is.”
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The labour board is holding hearings to determine what level of service teachers can withdraw under a provincial law that makes education an essential service.
Teachers began a strike vote on Tuesday. The results will be announced tomorrow.
BCTF president Jinny Sims said the Education Minister is trying to use provocative language to intimidate teachers.
This week, Labour Minister Mike de Jong named deputy minister Rick Connolly as a facilitator to try to get a negotiated settlement. Ms. Sims said those initial talks were positive, so she was surprised to hear Ms. Bond’s comments.
“We’re rather perturbed by the minister’s comments. Historically, what we’ve seen is whenever teachers prepare to take a stance, this government tries to intimidate us,” Ms. Sims said. “They should know by now we’re not moved by rhetoric; we are concerned about learning conditions.”
Results of the strike vote by the province’s 42,000 teachers will be made public tomorrow and teachers are going ahead with the vote despite appeals by the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association to delay that while talks continue.
Teachers have been without a contract since June of 2004.
The employers’ association suggested the union’s demands would raise education spending in the province by 35 per cent, a figure teachers dispute.
Although the BCTF has not said specifically how much of a salary increase it wants, teachers are saying their wages should be on equal footing with colleagues in Alberta and Ontario. The government’s mandate has been zero wage increases for three years.
Relations between teachers and the government have been strained since January of 2002, when the Liberals legislated a contract that expired more than a year ago. The two sides have been before the Labour Relations Board this week to determine what qualifies as essential service levels in the event of a strike.
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