The Province: B.C. teachers inch toward strike vote as Abbott, Lambert square off
B.C. Education Minister George Abbott wants teachers to think twice before walking out in an illegal strike.
Teachers meeting in Vancouver are debating whether to walk out in protest over Abbott’s Bill 22, passed last week, which took away the teachers’ right to strike.
“I’m optimistic that the teachers’ federation will choose the constructive path that we have put in front of them,” Abbott told The Province from Dalian, China, where he’s on an educational tour.
“Bill 22 doesn’t impose a settlement, but sends teachers on the road toward a mediated settlement.”
B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert told reporters Tuesday that she will abide by the decision of the BCTF’s 41,000 teachers, even if that means an illegal strike that would incur fines of $475 per day per teacher and $1.3 million daily for the BCTF.
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