About 250 teachers on the Coast will take job action when school starts in September if a new collective agreement cannot be reached before then.
Teachers across the province voted 90 per cent in favour of job action last week, saying negotiations with the province have come to a standstill.
"The 'teach only' action would see teachers in class, teaching students, but not performing other administrative duties such as entering information on computer databases, meeting with administrators and administering mandated tests," said Jenny Garrels, former Sunshine Coast Teachers' Association (SCTA) president.
Garrels was succeeded by incoming president Louise Herle this week; however, she spoke with Coast Reporter regarding this issue before leaving the position.
"Contract talks began March 1 at both local and provincial bargaining tables. However, no progress has been made at either level, leaving teachers frustrated. While teachers are seeking improvement to ensure they keep up with Canadian standards, the government has offered only concessions and contract stripping," said Garrels.
She said teachers are seeking improvements to class size, class composition and preparation time.
"In addition, teachers are seeking a fair wage increase, to ensure B.C. teachers' salaries are in line with Alberta, Ontario and Western Canada," Garrels said, noting an average B.C. teacher with 10 years of experience makes $21,000 less per year than a teacher in Alberta.
While Garrels maintains no progress has been made locally regarding contract talks, School District No. 46 (SD46) board chair Silas White disagrees.
"Actually, a lot of progress has been made at the local level, especially compared to other school districts in the province," White said. "We have an interest-based system, and both parties at the local table show a tremendous amount of respect for each other. We have a good relationship with our teachers, and we feel that they feel the same way about us. I'm definitely surprised by that comment."
He said that contract talks are over for the summer at the local level, but they will resume again in the fall.
"A lot of the problem is that so much is going on at the provincial table, and one big issue at the provincial table is the split of local and provincial issues. So there are a lot of issues that actually both our side and their side would like to bargain, but they're held up at the provincial table over this split discussion," White said.
"Therefore it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to do a lot of bargaining now and sort of close things off at our end when the provincial table hasn't finished yet. It makes sense for the provincial table to go first."
Teachers are hoping the recent vote in support of job action will encourage the province to negotiate and come to an agreement with teachers before September.
Minister of Education George Abbott is also hopeful an agreement can be reached.
"What I'm hoping is that the two parties will continue to work hard and work constructively at the bargaining table. There is nothing inevitable here, and it's important that the parties continue to exchange proposals and continue to work hard to reach an agreement," he said.
White noted that although parents may be concerned about the possible job action in September, SD46 is committed to making sure students are well taken care of.
"One thing I should say on behalf of the district is we will ensure that student safety is always protected. Before and after school supervision is the kind of thing that [teachers] may pull back on, and as a district we need to make sure the kids are supervised. We will find some way of doing that," White said.
