VICTORIA — The provincial Liberal government will impose a settlement by extending the existing contract, with no salary increases, on B.C. teachers this week, triggering the possibility of undefined job action in schools.
When the bill passes in about three days the new law will effectively quash 42,000 teachers’ right to strike to win a new contract. Instead, deemed to be providing an essential service by the Liberal government, they will be hit with a wage freeze that will extend to June 30, 2006. They had been asking for a 15 per-cent increase over three years.
In response, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation called an emergency meeting in Vancouver Monday night to chart the union’s response to the bill introduced earlier in the day.
“They have once again used the legislative hammer in a punitive manner to tell our teachers, working people in this province, that they have no rights,” said BCTF president Jinny Sims.
She would not rule out the possibility of retaliation in the form of job action.
“You will not get . . . effective teachers standing in a front of a classroom, delivering programs with heart and passion when you keep taking away their basic right,” she said.
Since the legislation is not likely to take effect until later this week, the teachers could likely hold a day of protest, as they did in 2002, after the last imposed settlement.
Labour Minister Mike de Jong said the legislation extends to next spring the teachers’ contract that expired in June 2004.
The government is acting now to avoid any disruption of the school year.
“Without any prospect of settlement, we could, as some have suggested, let the situation drift into strike or lockout,” said de Jong. “That, of course, would cause nothing but harm to students.”
Calling the bargaining system “broke”, de Jong said the government will also create a commission to create a new bargaining system between teachers and their employer, the B.C. Public School Employers Association.
The two sides met 35 times and did not agree on a single issue. They were also hundreds of millions of dollars apart.
The employers said the teachers’ demands added up to $938 million; the BCTF put the figure at $673 million.
“I am certain that no one set out to construct a bargaining structure that would fail, but that’s what has happened,” said de Jong. “I will say . . . that I and this government will do everything we can to work with stakeholders in the weeks and months ahead to change that fact.”
But the fight may only be starting and the teachers’ mood is dark.
“It took everything in me not to have the tears roll down my face,” said Sims, accusing the government of undermining the democratic right of collective bargaining. “We have people who come to Canada to escape this kind of persecution.”
It is the fourth time since 1993 that NDP and Liberal governments have taken such action. Sims, who said the government never had any real intention of negotiating a settlement this time, suggested it might be a few days before teachers’ strategy would be clear.
“After [Monday night’s emergency meeting] our members will be having meetings all across the province and we will have more to say after that,” she said. “But let me tell you, over the last four years we have seen what legislation has done to education in this province. What it has meant is that we have students who only go to school four days a week. We have students sitting in a class of 35 with 12 special needs students. What it’s done is, it’s closed libraries . . . .”
The NDP accused the government of needlessly causing a crisis.
“I thought we were here to fix things, not inflame them,”‘ said New Democrat MLA John Horgan. “My approach would have been to seize that opportunity, try to find common ground around those issues and see if there could be a solution there. I’m disappointed that the government acted so prematurely,” he said.
The B.C. Public School Employers’ Association, which bargains for B.C”s 60 school boards, welcomed the appointment of an industrial inquiry commission to examine the flaws in the bargaining structure.
But Hugh Finlayson, the chief executive officer, admitted there are concerns about how the teachers will react to the legislation.
“I think you always are (worried) when you have a settlement like this. But I have great faith in the professionalism of the teaching staff.”
Mary McDermott, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association, said teachers were shocked by the government’s move, especially since their job action until Monday had been minor.
“Teachers are angry. They’re very, very angry,” she said, adding: “I’m appalled.”
Asked if teachers might immediately close schools in protest, she replied: “I can’t imagine that school won’t be open [today] but I can’t say.
“We are sort of in shock right now. We need to pause for a moment” before deciding on a response.
McDermott said the government has painted teachers into a corner. “What does that do for morale and what does that do for students in our classrooms? Parents should be worried about that.”
mcernetig@png.canwest.com
WHAT’S AT ISSUE:
Government’s salary offer: 0%
Teachers’ demands: 15% over three years
2004*: 2% plus 2% Market Adjustment**
2005: 2% plus 3% MA
2006: 2% plus 4% MA
* retroactive to July 1, 2004
** Market adjustment is help B.C. teachers salaries catch up to other provinces
Source: BCTF, Vancouver Sun
Ran with fact box “What’s at Issue”, which has been appendedto the end of the story.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
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