Province won’t allow teachers a long strike
Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, September 22, 2005
The Liberal government will not allow a lengthy walkout by teachers, despite their union’s contention that long strikes do not have a significant impact on students, Education Minister Shirley Bond said Wednesday.
“This government is committed to making sure that students are in classrooms,” she said in an interview. “We’re worried about students being out of classrooms for a day, much less for weeks or months.
“We’re not even going to consider what the impact would be with any lengthy disruption. We’ve said that education is essential [and] … students will be in classrooms.”
Bond made the comments after the B.C. Teachers’ Federation told the B.C. Labour Relations Board there is no evidence lengthy work disruptions — such as those in Powell River, Vancouver Island North and Peace River North in the early 1990s — have a significant or long-lasting impact on students.
“In the past, there have been lengthy strikes and lockouts without serious consequences for students or the education system,” the union’s lawyer Diane MacDonald told the labour board.
“The sky does not fall when teachers exercise their right to strike.”
There are no data showing that students in those three districts lost a year of schooling, failed to graduate, did poorly in government exams or lost opportunities for post-secondary education, she added.
“The evidence was that students managed.”
Bond said she was incredibly surprised by the union’s statement. “To suggest that a day or two days doesn’t have an impact — much less weeks or months — is absolutely unbelievable.”
She dismissed the suggestion there is no hard evidence of an impact.
“Trying to graduate is difficult enough with the time frame that we have for students. To suggest that they can either make it up or deal with it in some other way is just unreasonable.”
The union said teachers make up for time lost during strikes by reducing the curriculum to the bare essentials, teaching to the test and giving students extra help before and after classes.
Teachers are holding a strike vote this week, with results to be announced Friday. Earlier in the week, the labour board heard arguments from teachers and their employers about what level of service should be considered essential in the event of a strike.
jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
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