Last week the provincial government won its appeal against the B.C. Supreme Court ruling that restored teachers’ collective bargaining rights and ordered a $2 million compensation payment to educators.
This week teachers are asking for permission to appeal the government’s win and preparing to pay back the $2 million they were previously awarded.
“Teachers plan to take the fight with the B.C. government to Canada’s highest court. We have 60 days to seek leave to appeal the most recent decision,” said Louise Herle, Sunshine Coast Teachers’ Association president.
“This ruling is bad news for all workers and the rights to collective bargaining.”
The government was praising the decision when it was released on April 30.
“Along with last year’s historic six-year agreement, today’s decision gives us a unique opportunity to work with teachers to improve outcomes for students,” said Education Minister Peter Fassbender.
“Starting to move past this legal dispute allows everyone to focus on what matters most — working together to improve opportunities and outcomes for B.C. students.”
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) made it clear they were not willing to end the legal dispute in their response by president Jim Iker on April 30.
“A government should not be able to just dictate what they want, simply talk to the union, and force it by legislation when there are collective agreements in place,” Iker said.
“The BCTF will seek leave to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.”
While the legal battle over Bill 28, which removed limits on class sizes from the collective bargaining process, doesn’t appear to be over yet, students shouldn’t notice any change in the classroom.
That’s the issue, according to Herle.
“It means the quality of their education will continue to deteriorate. This legal fight is about the class size and composition that was stripped from our contracts,” Herle said.
“The stripped class size language means more students in our classes and less one-on-one attention. Overall it means fewer and fewer teachers to work directly with students.”
