By Roy L Hales
In a press release issued Saturday, BC’s Minister of Education Peter Fassbender rejected the BC teacher’s offer to go to binding arbitration because “the BCTF made it clear that they would insist on several preconditions – preconditions that would effectively tilt the entire process in the BCTF favour.”
BCTF Federation President Jim Ikerman made the offer Friday, stating that the government would have to drop proposal E80 which sets class size and composition at current levels. Ikerman said this should be left to the courts.
The BC Supreme Court has ruled in the teachers favour in the past, most recently:
- fining the government $2 million in damages for removing the teachers’ collective rights to bargain on class size and composition and support for special needs students in 2002
- ruling against the government’s failure to reinstate the teachers’ collective rights to bargain on class size and composition and support for special needs students, when ordered by the court last April.
The government is appealing these verdicts, stating that thousands of new teachers may be needed.
According to the NDP Leader, John Horgan, the government’s position is based on spending priorities, not finances.
“They can reallocate finances in a $44-billion budget with a $750-million contingency fund, said NDP Leader John Horgan. “That’s a red herring that’s designed to frustrate negotiations.”
It would appear that an increasing number of BC residents agree with him.
A poll of 811 BC residents, taken August 23 to 26, found that 52% of the respondents support the teachers. That number increased to 60% if they had children in public school.
52% stated they believe the teachers are trying to improve the quality of education in BC, as opposed to 28% for the government. Support for the teachers increased to 62% vs 25% among parents with children in school.
84% of the respondents agreed that the BC Government should increase BC’s per child funding to the national average.
The poll was commissioned by the BC Federation of Labour.
BC’s Green Party has thrown its support behind the idea of binding arbitration.
“The government’s position that resolution will only be achieved through negotiation belies the fact that over two months have passed with few, if any, substantive talks between parties, ” Wrote Green MLA Andrew Weaver. “Even mediator Vince Ready has pointed out that both sides are too far apart on substantive issues for mediation to proceed.”
“Binding arbitration is a time-tested means of ending labour disputes when face-to-face negotiations and mediation break down. That the government dismissed it suggests to me that they are not interested in reaching a fair settlement,” he added. “It is time to end this strike.”
The Green party has set up a petition site, where you can make your support of binding arbitration known. Click here to access it.
Oblivious to the irony of his statement, Fassbender’s press release stated, “This labour dispute is a serious matter that is disrupting the education of 558,000 students across B.C. Thousands of teachers and their families are suffering real financial hardship with no end in sight.”
(Image at top of page: Victoria High School – Courtesy Jason V, CC by SA, 2.0 )