We have the utmost respect for the law and the judicial system so it is difficult to listen to this government tell teachers they should respect the law.
This is the same government that used the Legislature to rip up legally binding collective agreements.
This is the government that said it didn’t feel the need to follow a ruling by the International Labour Organization, a United Nations body composed of representatives of government, business, and labour. The ILO ruled that the BC Liberal law declaring education an “essential service” should be repealed. The ruling also called on the government to open talks with the BCTF to negotiate an agreement and to refrain from imposing settlements in the future.
This is a government that will not even allow teachers to exercise their limited rights provided by the BC Liberals own “essential service” legislation. The government didn’t even wait for the Labour Relations Board to rule on what constituted “essential services” for education. After only three days of teachers undertaking minimal actions such as refusing to exchange papers with AOs, the government introduced Bill 12 to bring teachers to heel.
This is the government that after losing a decision in court simply turned around and legislated what the courts had just ruled was fundamentally flawed. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation challenged the decisions of government-appointed arbitrator Eric Rice in the B.C. Supreme Court and won. January 22, 2004, Justice D.W. Shaw concluded that Rice’s ruling contained “fundamental” errors on “points of law that are of importance to the education system of British Columbia, including the teachers, the school boards and the students.” However, the BC Liberals introduced Bill 19, and made that fundamentally flawed ruling a new law.
This is the government that overturned arbitrated settlements for doctors and provincial court prosecutors because it didn’t like the results.
This is not a government to be lecturing people about respect for the law.
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