Just a day after New Westminster’s superintendent said summer school in the district was going ahead, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation announced it would continue with its strike if a deal with the province isn’t reached by Monday.
BCTF president Jim Iker held a press conference today saying teachers will set up picket lines at worksites where summer school is located.
“What we need from the government is to get this deal done,” he said. “We’ve made a decision that if we don’t have a deal by June 30, we will be picketing outside summer school.”
All members will be picketing, he said, noting that each local will deal with how picketing would take place over the summer.
“Of course, it’s going to be important for our members to spend time with their families,” Iker said. “We are not on strike to walk picket lines in the summer. We are taking a stand for our students.”
One reporter at the conference asked Iker how striking over summer helps students.
“It’s a decision that we don’t take lightly. This has been 12 years now. Twelve years that our students have taken cuts,” Iker said, referring to the B.C. Liberal era.
The union blames legislation, introduced by then-Education Minister and current premier Christy Clark, for stripping money from the education system.
B.C. teachers are seeking a deal that is based on five key points:
· a five-year term;
· an eight per cent salary increase, plus $5,000 signing bonus;
· no concessions;
· an annual workload fund that addresses issues of class size, class composition, and staffing ratios as an interim measure while both parties await the next court ruling;
· a retroactive grievances fund, as a resolution to Justice Griffin’s B.C. Supreme Court decision that retroactively restored the stripped language from 2002. This fund would be used to address other working conditions like preparation time and teacher-on-call compensation improvements, as well as improvements to health benefits.
Iker still thinks a deal is attainable, but said getting there will require new movement from government on the critical issues of class size, class composition, and staffing levels for specialist teachers.
According to Ministry of Education data, summer school is offered in 26 of B.C.’s 60 school districts and about 10 per cent of B.C. students enrol. This year’s estimate is for 53,600 students. In New Westminster, 607 students are registered for summer school.
The BCTF executive committee made the decision to extend the strike to summer school should a negotiated deal not be reached by June 30, 2014 during a meeting on June 23.
The government has applied to the Labour Relations Board to vary the essential services order. The BCTF will reply at an upcoming case management meeting.
New Westminster superintendent John Gaiptman hopes the Labour Relations board will deem summer school an essential service for students who have failed a course and need to “It is my goal to make sure we manage the impact on students,” said Gaiptman.re-take it.
New Westminster Secondary is the only school in the district to offer summer school, and picket lines would only be set up at schools that offer the program, Iker said at the conference.
The Minister of Education hadn’t responded to the BCTF’s announcement at press time.
