A new proposal brought to the bargaining table last week didn't bring teachers any closer to a contract, and they may be talking about what the next steps could entail on Jan. 31.
The B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) brought a revised and reduced set of proposals to the bargaining table on Jan. 17, abandoning their request for parity with teachers in Alberta and Ontario and asking for a three per cent cost of living increase yearly for the next three years.
In years two and three, those cost of living increases would also be matched by a market adjustment in the new proposal.
"While it may be less unreasonable than what we have seen previously, it still remains hugely at odds with the net zero mandate, which government has at this challenging, troubled economic time," said Minister of Education George Abbott in a press conference following the meeting where the new proposal was tabled.
"We remain apart with the teachers' federation. They've taken some of their previous numbers and narrowed them down, and perhaps, as we look at the specific costing here, we may see some narrowing of the chasm that has existed between the [BCTF's] expectations and what we are able to put on the table. But it is only a narrowing. We remain a great distance apart.
"I can't say I emerged from this with any sense of optimism, but obviously there's work that continues to be done at the bargaining table and needs to be done at the bargaining table."
Sunshine Coast Teachers' Asso-ciation president Louise Herle didn't leave that bargaining meeting on Jan. 17 with much optimism either.
She and two other members of the bargaining team were on hand to hear the discussion and observe the process.
"We were there with the negotiating team for the BCTF and the BCPSEA [B.C. Public School Employer's Asso-ciation] across the table and certainly had some very interesting caucus discussions," Herle said. "After we costed out the offer and showed the package to them, then we caucused and we came back and they had some questions and it's so interesting how BCPSEA inflates the numbers."
She said the employer took the worst-case scenario to surmise the proposal would be too costly.
"They cost it out as though every single teacher - 41,000 teachers - take every single sick day and every single bereavement day and every single possible piece that they could within one year, which we just know is not true," Herle said. "In fact the statistics are about 4.5 per cent.
"Thank goodness not all of us lose our parents or have loved ones die every year. So when you see the numbers and they start inflating them, and you look at what they're doing, they are costing it as though every single teacher took every single sick day and that's just not reality."
Following some discussion at the bargaining table on Jan. 17, Herle said the employer called off negotiations in order to look more carefully at the costing in the proposal.
This week BCPSEA said the teachers' proposal would actually cost the province $1.3 billion.
"We still remain hundreds of millions of dollars apart on this," Abbott said.
While there seems to be no movement toward a negotiated contract for teachers in B.C. there is some movement by the BCTF to engage its teachers and possibly talk next steps this month.
"There is a very important general meeting of all teachers on Tuesday the 31st of January. We'll be at the Raven's Cry Theatre and we have a presentation by the BCTF. They are making presentations to locals across the province and everybody will be getting the same message," Herle said.
"It's called Connecting the Dots Between Bill 27 and 28: looking at class size and composition, looking at the cuts in government funding and the new BCEd plan. So I think there will be some discussion there about where to go from here."
