British Columbia teachers strike for five weeks to reach a contract
Larry Kuehn*
Young student compares Premier Christie Clark of British Columbia with the evil headmistress of Hogwarts. Photo: Steve Stewart
The longest provincial teacher strike in Canadian history shut down the schools in British Columbia for five weeks in mid-2014. The strike was about much more than just teacher salaries. It was also about improving the learning conditions for students and protecting the professional autonomy of teachers. When it finally ended in late September, the result did not achieve as much as teachers desired or deserved. However, the teachers’ representatives said the proposed collective agreement was the best possible given the circumstances. When the new contract was put to a vote of the membership, it was ratified by 86%. Public school teachers in British Columbia (BC) are all members of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). In all * Director of Research and Technology, bctf
Canadian provinces, a public school teacher must belong to their union in order to teach. This provides a stable base for the union, both for bargaining purposes and for financing the many programs that engage members as activists in the union. The BCTF has long seen its role as more than just looking after the salaries and benefits of teachers, although these continue to be an important part of the union’s work. The BCTF also bargains for improvements in student learning conditions, offers professional development for teachers, trains union activists, has programs aimed at improving social justice, and supports international solidarity, particularly with teacher unions in Latin America. Collective bargaining is an essential part of the union’s work. The union bargains with the employer, who for these negotiations was the provincial government. The previous collective agreement had expired in June of 2012, but most of its provisions stayed in effect until there a new agreement was reached. Negotiations dragged on for more than a year before teachers voted to go on strike to pressure the government to agree to a new contract. Teachers sought improvements in salaries, which are among the lowest in Canada. Even more, though, the members told negotiators to aim for smaller classes and more support for students with special needs, who are integrated into our classrooms with the other students. Teachers generally support integrating students with special needs into regular classes--this includes students with learning disabilities, physical handicaps, autism, and students whose behavior can be disruptive. However, teachers need more support to balance the needs of these students with those of the full class. This support can be through smaller classes, specialist teachers to give support, as well as time to prepare for the different needs of students with a wide range of abilities. Improvement in classroom conditions is a top priority of teachers in collective bargaining in BC. Unfortunately, these improvements do not appear to have been achieved in this contract, despite claims by government that a special fund would offer more supports. The government objectives were aimed at austerity--at keeping the cost of education in BC well below the Canadian average. They also wanted to reduce the autonomy of teachers, making them subject to more administrative control. The new contract includes small increases in salary over the next five years--but BC teachers will still have salaries lower than teachers in most other Canadian provinces. Small improvements in benefits and in preparation time were also achieved. While the federation was unable to make significant advances in recovering many of the rights stripped from them by
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