The latest twist in the teachers' dispute is starting to remind us of one of those old cartoons where someone is staring up the wrong end of the barrel of a rifle and snickering, "I've got you right where I want you."
At press time Minister of Education Peter Fassbender was steadfastly saying no to binding arbitration. At about the same time, the teachers' leader, Jim Iker, was announcing that despite Fassbender's message that the government would not entertain binding arbitration, the teachers were going to vote on it.
Surely this vote is not intended to sway Fassbender. The vote is to keep his teachers on the line motivated and in step. It is also to send a message to parents that it's not the teachers' union that is keeping schools closed.
Will the teachers hold firm? Will parents continue to blame government more (although those poll numbers change daily) for not getting schools open than they will for blaming teachers for keeping them closed? Who knows? Last week we saw duelling press conferences where both sides came out with misinformation designed to sway the public. Premier Christy Clark said the teachers had asked for unlimited massages. Iker said the teachers were still locked out. And neither side appeared to be ready to apologize for any misstatements.
Meanwhile parents are either pulling their hair out or trying to figure if they can afford private school before the next education labour dispute.
We think this all does not bode well for the teachers.
Clark learned a valuable lesson during the last election. Despite pundits saying she was toast, she won handily. The silent majority is moving farther to the right and they don't take kindly to spending their tax dollars on massages for teachers (even if they aren't unlimited).
Clark knows that if she can keep parents thinking this is about teachers' wants and not educational needs, she'll force the teachers even further out on a limb. Their strike fund is in trouble, and union members won't welcome a dues increase after losing pay on the picket line.
The trouble with gamesmanship like this is that it merely perpetuates the game - and education should not be part of a political game.
