Tag Archives: BCTF

BC Teachers Strike Debate on Global BC Morning News Show

This morning on the Global BC Morning News Show, Sophie Lui and Steve Darling interviewed a variety of people on key issues related to education in British Columbia, in the context of the current labour dispute between the teachers and the BC government.

Segment 1
Topic: Cost of education to both parents and teachers (for example, money spent on supplies, possibility of corporate sponsorships as possible solution to alleviate the funding problem?)
Guest 1: Lisa Cable (Parents for B.C. Founder)
Guest 2: Harman Pandher (Burnaby School Board Trustee, Surrey teacher & parent)

Segment 2
Peter Fassbender, BC Minister of Education

Segment 3
Jim Iker, President of British Columbia Teachers Federation

Segment 4
Topic: Class size & composition
Guest 1: E. Wayne Ross (UBC Professor, Faculty of Education)
Guest 2: Nick Milum (Vancouver School Board Student Trustee)

Segment 5
Topic: Future of education, fixing the system & avoiding future strikes?)
Guest 1: Charles Ungerleider (UBC Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Education)
Guest 2: Dan Laitsch (SFU Associate Professor, Faculty of Education)

Class size affects more than education

Class size and composition are key issues in the current labour dispute between the British Columbia Teachers Federation and the BC government.

In 2002, the ruling BC Liberals unilaterally stripped away provisions in the teachers’ contract that governed the makeup and number of students in each class. The teachers sued the government over their actions, twice. And the teachers won both times. The government is currently appealing their loss and refuses to follow the courts order that class size and composition conditions be restored.

The teachers and the government’s negotiators have been at the table for many months, with little or no progress. Last week the BCTF started rotating, district by district one-day strikes around the province. The government responded by cutting teachers pay by 10% and, in a bizarre and confusing move, locking teachers out for 45 minutes before and after school and during lunch and recess.

Amongst other things, the BC Minister of Education, Peter Fassbender, has been misrepresenting the implications of research on class size. See my previous blog about that, which led to an interview with CBC Radio’s Daybreak North program that was broadcast this morning. You can listen to 5 minute interview here and here:

B.C. teachers inch toward strike vote as Abbott, Lambert square off

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.

Union faction urges B.C. teachers to support full-scale strike

Vancouver Sun: Union faction urges B.C. teachers to support full-scale strike

Pamphlet calling for a province-wide strike was circulated to delegates Sunday at the union’s annual general meeting

A faction of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation is calling for a provincewide strike by public-school teachers that would continue until the Liberal government repeals a new law that the group describes as the most aggressive attack on education in a generation.

“There are times in history when taking action is critical,” says a pamphlet circulated to delegates Sunday at the union’s annual general meeting in Vancouver and leaked to The Vancouver Sun. “Only a strong response will be able to stop Bill 22.”

B.C. teachers strike: Indecisive government gives teachers’ union the upper hand

The Province: B.C. teachers strike: Indecisive government gives teachers’ union the upper hand

Just a few days ago, Premier Christy Clark was all gung-ho to cut the teachers off at the pass and stop their strike before it even began.

“I want to make sure kids don’t lose a day of school,” Clark said, while insisting she wanted to declare the strike illegal before it started by rushing a back-to-work bill through the legislature.

“I hope we get this legislation in place before we see any further job action in any public schools in British Columbia,” she said.

That was Tuesday. Then the government morphed from tigers into pussy-cats.

On Thursday, education minister George Abbott said he “respects” the teachers’ decision to go on strike and the government will not move aggressively to stop it.

B.C. teachers’ union walks out, vows to resist back-to-work legislation

Globe and Mail: B.C. teachers’ union walks out, vows to resist back-to-work legislation

The head of B.C.’s teachers’ union is vowing to “resist” government legislation ordering an end to her union’s strike even if passed into law, but has declined to say what form that action might take.

“We’ll be consulting with our members determining what to do,” said British Columbia Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert. “I can tell you that teachers will not accept legislation that erodes the quality of the school system. We will do something to continue to resist such legislation.”

B.C. teachers plan strike vote, gov’t prepares bill

CTV: B.C. teachers plan strike vote, gov’t prepares bill

The ongoing contract dispute between British Columbia teachers and the provincial government is promising to heat up before it cools down, as each side prepares its next move.

Teachers have been on a limited strike since September, and while they can’t legally walk off the job, they’ve been refusing to perform administrative duties like filling out report cards.

On Friday, the BC Teachers’ Federation, which represent 41,000 members, announced it will hold strike votes province wide, asking educators Tuesday and Wednesday whether they want to escalate limited teach-only action to a full-scale walkout.

Update to issue 17 of Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor

The current issue of Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor has been updated with two new field reports.

Issue No. 17 of Workplace “Working In, and Against, the Neo-Liberal State: Global Perspectives on K-12 Teacher Unions” is guest edited by Howard Stevenson of Lincoln University (UK).

The new field reports include:

The NEA Representative Assembly of 2010: A Longer View of Crisis and Consciousness
Rich Gibson

Abstract
Following the 2009 National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly (RA) in San Diego, new NEA president Dennis Van Roekel was hugging Arne Duncan, fawning over new President Obama, and hustling the slogan, “Hope Starts Here!” At the very close of the 2009 RA, delegates were treated to a video of themselves chanting, “Hope starts Here!” and “Hope Starts with Obama and Duncan!” The NEA poured untold millions of dollars, and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours, into the Obama campaign. In 2009, Van Roekel promised to tighten NEA-Obama ties, despite the President’s educational policies and investment in war. What happened in the year’s interim? What was the social context of the 2010 RA?

Resisting the Common-nonsense of Neoliberalism: A Report from British Columbia
E. Wayne Ross

Abstract
Faced with a $16 million budget shortfall, the Vancouver school trustees, who have a mandate to meet the needs of their students, have lobbied for more provincial funding to avoid draconian service cuts. The government has refused the request, and its special advisor to the Vancouver School Board criticizes trustees for engaging in “advocacy” rather than making “cost containment” first priority. The clash between Vancouver trustees and the ministry of education is not “just politics.” Rather, education policy in BC reflects the key features of neoliberal globalization, not the least of which is the principle that more and more of our collective wealth is devoted to maximizing private profits rather than serving public needs. British Columbia is home to one of the most politically successful neoliberal governments in the world, but fortunately it is also a place to look for models of mass resistance to the neoliberal agenda. One of the most important examples of resistance to the common-nonsense of neoliberalism in the past decade is the British Columbia teachers’ 2005 strike, which united student, parent, and educator interests in resisting the neoliberal onslaught on education in the public interest.

Strike news

Canadian Press: Canada’s top court refuses to hear B.C. unions’ appeals about one-day strikes
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Two prominent British Columbia unions have lost their bid to have the Supreme Court of Canada decide whether a pair of one-day walkouts were Charter-protected political protests or illegal strikes.The teachers’ and health-workers’ unions staged separate walkouts in 2002 and 2003 to protest a provincial law that stripped their collective agreements – walkouts the province’s Labour Relations Board ruled were illegal.

Examiner.com: Pending strike for east bay schools
Teachers come out in droves for a strike authorization vote in East Bay District of West Contra Costa Unified School District, WCCUSD. They voted 93% yes, authorizing the United Teachers of Richmond, UTR, the authority to strike.

Wichita Business Journal: Teachers union rejects proposed contract
Untied Teachers of Wichita rejected a tentative agreement with the board of education, with 56 percent voting against the contract that called for pay freezes, elimination of bonuses and increases in health care premiums. In all, 2,684 teachers voted.

Providence Journal: 15 teacher contracts remain unresolved in R.I.
With just days to go before the start of school, a high number of school districts have unsettled teacher contracts, an indication of the tough financial times facing communities, say education and union officials.

NarcoNews: The Learning Curve of the Teachers vs. the Honduras Coup
AUGUST 23, 2009, SABA, HONDURAS: The classrooms were empty but the assembly hall was full. Last Thursday afternoon, more than two hundred striking schoolteachers and other members of the civil resistance from the northeastern state of Colón gathered at the city high school to chart their next steps.

Arab News: PA dismisses teachers, arrests Hamas loyalists
RAMALLAH: Hamas on Saturday said that the West Bank-based government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has dismissed 17 Palestinian teachers following recommendation from the Palestinian Authority security forces.

Toronto Sun: Oh, no, not another strike!
Toronto’s public high school teachers still don’t have a new contract, but at least they’re still talking

Free Press: Detroit unions threaten to strike over cuts
They rally in protest over plans that call for furloughs, layoffs and labor concessions
Public employees and members of several Detroit labor unions threatened to strike Wednesday in response to Mayor Dave Bing’s plans to trim the city’s budget through furloughs, layoffs and union concessions. Representatives from AFSCME Local 207, the Detroit Federation of Teachers and the activist group By Any Means Necessary threatened to strike if Bing and Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb continue to lay off people and threaten bankruptcy and wage and benefit cuts.

Detroit News: Editorial: Strike would damage chance for recovery
A strike by public employees in Detroit would hurt recovery chances for the city and region
The last thing Detroit needs is a strike by its public employees. The city and region are reeling from the shrinkage of the domestic auto industry and declining tax revenues. A labor walkout would seriously hurt the chances of this area to join in any economic recovery in the rest of the nation.

Nigeria: ASUU Strike Threatens National Interest
Lagos Civil Society Alliance of Nigeria, a Kaduna-based rights group, has appealed to Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embrace dialogue with the Federal Government and suspend its six-week-old strike in the interest of students.Addressing a press conference in Lagos, the group’s convener, Bashir Abdul, expressed concern over ASUU’s plight, but pleaded with the university dons to rev…

The Post (Zambia): PTUZ calls for reimbursement of teachers’ salaries
NEWLY formed Professional Teachers Union of Zambia (PTUZ) interim president Osward Matandiko has challenged teacher unions to reimburse teachers salary deductions they are suffering as a result of taking part in the recent strike action. Matandiko said Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ), Secondary Education School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) and Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) had huge financial reserves from which they could pay their members the deductions that the government had slapped on them for taking part in the strike.

Bucks County Courier Times: Teachers contract talks at a standstill
Teachers will weigh their options at a Sept. 2 union meeting. Less than a month before school starts, the North Penn School District and its teachers union are still deadlocked over a new contract.

Business Day (Nigeria): Teachers Strike: FG pulls out of talks
Hopes of getting the university students back to school have been dashed as the Federal Government negotiating team announced its official withdrawal from the ongoing re-negotiation exercise with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the ongoing industrial action. Gamaliel Onosode leader of the federal government team who announced government withdrawal from the exercise also urged the Governing Councils of Federal Universities to recall their staff that are on strike and provide an enabling environment for teaching, research and community services for those who are willing to work.
Onosode said until the Union suspends its current strike, it will not continue because of non availability of enabling environment for governing councils to continue the negotiation with their employees.