Class Warfare in British Columbia

One week has now gone by since British Columbia's public school teachers stepped away from their classrooms and onto the front lines of a battle against the agenda of the Gordon Campbell Liberal government.

Originally this was a dispute over salaries, class sizes and special education requirements, but things have quickly moved away from a simple labour dispute, into an almost holy war against a government perceived as intransigent and uncaring. The teachers have found themselves subject to legislation effectively ending their right to bargaining for a collective agreement, the Liberals Bill 12 closed the book on any negotiations before they even began, putting in place the same formula of settlement that many other public service employees have faced that of Zero, Zero and well here's another Zero.

The Liberals who were re-elected with a smaller majority than the last election, but a majority none the less, have been making a habit of taking tough stands with unions, the teachers long a nemesis of Provincial governments of all stripes, Rafe Mair traces the history of teacher/government discord in an article here for Tyee. He coins a rather suitable phrase when he suggests that both sides are like two scorpions in the same bottle. With the decision to ignore the back to work edict and challenge the courts, the teachers must have known that the path they will follow would be one of drama.

The teacher's refusal to return to work, as outlined by their president Jinny Sims, has placed them in contempt of court for their troubles. The government seemingly emboldened by their own get tough rhetoric and proclamation of an illegal strike, has taken to poking the BCTF in the eye. They sent Education Shirley Bond to the microphones, Ms. Bond suggested that any teachers wishing to cross an "illegal picket line" would be helped by a government dedicated to the rule of law. It was an un-necessary comment at the time and only served to make things appear dark at a very dark hour.

On the other side of the silliness table came comments from the Teachers Federation that the public school teachers were involved in the same kind of struggle that the followers of Gandhi or the civil rights activists of the sixties in the USA had to face. Now the dispute currently shutting down the province's public schools may be many things but a life and death struggle for the right to live or combating racism it certainly is not.

Hyperbole apparently is the only two things that the two sides have in common, each offering up charged statements rather than sober debate. Two sides with apparently no common ground rarely find much to discuss, but to be fair to the teachers it is rather hard to negotiate when the other side simply says, that's it, go back to work. Class dismissed.

With the picket lines still up by Wednesday, there were suggestions that on Thursday BC Supreme Court Madam Justice B. Brown would fine the BCTF out of existence in one fell swoop. Instead what was presented was a rather unorthodox ruling for the two sides to ponder. The BCTF has been told that they are not to pay any strike pay for thirty days, refrain from any correspondence regarding the dispute and not accept any funding from third parties to tide them over the thirty days. To keep a handle on things the Courts appointed someone to oversee the terms of the ruling, in effect putting the union into trusteeship for 30 days.

The ruling has galvanized the labour movement in British Columbia, once again threatening to take the unions to the barricades in public protest. The umbrella group of labour unions in BC is the BC Fed, Jim Sinclair who is the leader of the Fed has called for Victoria based unions to assemble in Victoria on Monday morning for a march on the BC Legislature, showing the Campbell government that the line has once again been drawn in the sand.

While Monday may prove to be a pivotal day for labour in BC, it may only be the opening shot in a long battle for hearts and minds in a very over polarized province. Rumors persist that the next step will be rotating shutdowns of unionized worksites across the province, or even a dedicated General Strike to gain the attention of the public to the issues at hand.

Meanwhile, 600,000 British Columbia students find themselves far away from their studies. The students merely pawns in a struggle between two sides, which have painted themselves into two separate corners with no sensible way out.

The Liberals, who seem to be on a Margaret Thatcher like quest to take on unions at every step, may find they have over stepped their allotted powers from the electorate with their desire to eliminate collective bargaining. The public may find it a little uncomfortable to watch as bargaining rights are curtailed by legislation, the need for negotiation apparently an unnecessary aspect of life in BC these days.

Now, one wonders if the Teachers really expected to receive the 15 per cent raises that they were asking, a rather unrealistic figure considering every other public sector union has been saddled with the Zero, Zero mandate. The honest desire for change to funding for class sizes, special education and other necessary things such as library funding and such are issues the public can certainly find sympathy with. However, by refusing to join in on a roundtable organized by the Provincial Government to study the issue, the teachers may find that their claims of concern get washed away by salary demands.

Cynics suggest that the roundtable is only a smokescreen to hide the issues away in the never ending circles of study hell, but by refusing to attend the teachers have stepped away from the high ground in a quest for change.

Monday will bring another day away from the schools, day number eight of what is shaping up to be a nasty, bitter struggle. The issues now moving away from what is best for students and instead turning towards a fight between competing agendas. Another skirmish in the endless battles between left and right in BC.

The government was wrong for eliminating a right to bargain and effectively stripping its citizens of a basic right of citizenship. The teachers are wrong for refusing to obey a return to work order from the courts, despite the advice of their own legal counsel. One is not sure that denying them the right to their strike pay is a good faith decision by the courts either. Finally, we're all wrong for fostering this perpetual Us against Them attitude in a province that has far too many resources than it apparently deserves.

The solution will be hard to find for a situation that has the danger to spin out of control of both the teachers and the government, the rhetoric and intransigence of both sides appears to be sending us to an endless loop, one which we may never get away from. Binding arbitration might offer up an escape from the side of this cliff, Vince Ready is one of Canada's foremost negotiators, over the years he has been the voice of reason when all others have seemingly lost their focus. If ever there was a situation that screams out for his calm and sensible ways this is it!

For the sake of the school children of BC, Mr. Ready should be contacted without delay. These two scorpions need to be seperated and shown some common ground. The terms of his contract would be simple, fix this mess. Fix it fast and fix it for the foreseeable future.