The provincial government's decision to appeal a court ruling to restore bargaining rights stripped from teachers' contracts will mean more time and money will be wasted in court, according to the New Westminster Teachers' Union president.
Grant Osborne was reacting to Education Minister Peter Fassbender's announcement Tuesday that his government will fight the teachers' recent court victory on class sizes and composition levels.
"They are going to try to fight everything. We are used to that after a dozen years, and it's truly unfortunate," Osborne said. "I don't know how many more court cases we need to prove the case."
Fassbender said the recent ruling "centres on the union's interest, not students' needs."
The government, he said, has to balance the union's concerns against the best interests of students, families and taxpayers.
"That is what our government has always done and will continue to do - and that is why we will appeal Justice (Susan) Griffin's decision," he said.
Fassbender claimed Griffin's decision could cost taxpayers upwards of $1 billion.
The judgement is "completely unaffordable for taxpayers," he said.
Meanwhile, Osborne said he's heard "all sorts of speculative numbers" around what the decision will cost.
"Is it going to cost some money? Well, when you strip the contract in the manner that you did, it likely will. And what the BCTF is saying is come to the table and let's see what we negotiate. We know that this legislation was illegal, and we believe we will be successful through appeals and elsewhere," Osborne said.
During the press conference, Fassbender also noted the average class in 1970 had 42 students.
"The suggestion that we have not dealt with class size is incorrect," Fassbender said, noting that over the past eight years the number of classes with more than 30 students has dropped by 88 per cent.
"Back then, we probably didn't have seatbelts in cars either," Osborne responded. "He's citing a completely different time and era."
Schools didn't have the same English-as-a-second-language numbers and didn't have a policy of inclusion for special-needs students, he said.
"To try and bring back class sizes from the 1970s, that's an incredible reach for any kind of justification," Osborne added.
The legal fight between the British Columbia Teachers' Union and the provincial government started in 2002, when Bill 28 removed class-size limits and class composition from the bargaining process.
In 2011, the courts found that the government's action violated teachers' constitutional rights. Last month, Griffin found legislation introduced in 2012, Bill 22, to be "virtually identical" to Bill 28, and therefore unconstitutional.
Griffin also concluded the government was "preoccupied" by a strategy to put pressure on the union to provoke a strike and gain political points for imposing legislation on teachers.
