The long and acrimonious struggle between the provincial government and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation continues with no apparent end in sight.
Both sides appear to be digging in their heels as news of rotating strikes by teachers will continue into next week.
It’s a sad situation, with students and parents caught in the middle. Our education system is a mess, and no one seems to want to budge an inch to compromise.
The government has instituted legislation in the past that the Supreme Court has deemed to be heavy-handed and in breach of the bargaining process.
Government put the hammer down recently when they said they would cut teachers’ salaries by 10 per cent the day teachers hit the picket lines and would lock out the teachers for three days at the end of June if a deal is not reached — more heavy-handed tactics.
Since the picket lines went up this week, government has indicated that they would pull back on the lockouts if the BCTF stopped the rotating strikes, but speaking on Global Morning News on Thursday, BCTF president Jim Iker said it was up to government to come to the table and bargain in good faith. When asked by a reporter ‘Why not offer an olive branch,’ Iker again said it was the responsibility of government to back off its demands.
That doesn’t fly with us.
Yes, teachers need a fair deal. Class size and composition have to be addressed, and we need to find some labour peace. But you need two to tango, and for the BCTF to suggest that this situation was all caused by government is ludicrous.
The BCTF is demanding a 13.7 per cent wage hike over four years, while the province is offering 7.3 per cent over a six-year contract. Government just recently settled with thousands of health care workers around this province with a little over five per cent wage increase over five years. Do teachers think their jobs are any tougher than a front-line health care worker? Who is more important? The answer is everyone is important and everyone plays a vital role in our society. We would be nowhere without proper health care and nowhere without teachers to teach our children. But what message are our teachers and the provincial government giving our children with this mess? If students acted like this, they would be headed for the detention hall.
Well, maybe that’s where both sides need to go — detention.
The word compromise comes to mind, yet neither side seems to understand the meaning of the word. Both sides need to stop with the rhetoric and blaming each other. We say lock them both in a room and don’t let either out until a deal is done.
This is a disagreement that has gone on for long enough.
— Ian Jacques
