B.C. teachers to begin rotating strikes next week (affected districts listed) http://t.co/pjwTCkZd5y pic.twitter.com/QM7Sg7wjuE
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) May 20, 2014
British Columbia (BC) Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) President Jim Iker announced this morning the staging of rotating strikes by BC Teachers on May 26-29 affecting all the schools in the province.
The strike is in response to the threat of wage rollbacks made last week, according to Iker.
“Last week, teachers were hopeful when they saw the government and BCPSEA [British Columbia Public School Employers' Association] put out an olive branch by backing off the unrealistic 10-year [contract] term,” said Iker on Tuesday morning.
“But the next day, hope that this government would start negotiating in good faith faded when the employer announced a series of threats around wage rollbacks, lockouts, and attempts to divide teachers, parents, and students,” he added.
Due to the limited action teachers started last month, the government announced last Friday its plans of cutting teachers’ salaries by five percent adding that the teachers were no longer attending meetings supervising students outside of class, limiting their non-class time to one hour before and after school.
Iker however argued that a deal with the government will not be made unless appropriate class size limits and composition guarantees are set, and staffing levels for specialist teachers are guaranteed into the contract.
“There are six days left before the first schools shut down.” he said. “I encourage Christy Clark and Peter Fassbender to be in touch, move off their unreasonable demands, and empower BCPSEA to negotiate a fair deal.”
With the provinces divided into four zones by the BCTF, the schools in every district will be closed for one day each over the course of the four strike days while classes were set to resume province-wide on Friday.
Meanhwile, education minister Peter Fassbender said that he was very disappointed with the strike and that “there were no threats to teachers,” while calling the promise to reduce teacher’s pay during the first stage of job action, a “normal part of bargaining during labour negotiations.”
“The announcement today says that the BCTF feels that disrupting classrooms, affecting children and their families is going to help to reach a settlement,” he added.
BCTF rotating strike schedule
Monday, May 26
#5 – Southeast Kootenay
#6 – Rocky Mountain
#28 – Quesnel
#39 – Vancouver
#40 – New Westminster
#48 – Sea to Sky
#49 – Central Coast
#59 – Peace River South
#62 – Sooke
#67 – Okanagan Skaha
#72 – Campbell River
#74 – Gold Trail
#75 – Mission
#78 – Fraser-Cascade
#85 – Vancouver Island North
#87 – Stikine
Tuesday, May 27
#10 – Arrow Lakes
#19 – Revelstoke
#20 – Kootenay-Columbia
#23 – Central Okanagan
#27 – Cariboo-Chilcotin
#35 – Langley
#38 – Richmond
#42 – Maple Ridge
#52 – Prince Rupert
#54 – Bulkley Valley
#63 – Saanich
#68 – Nanaimo
#70 – Alberni
#81 – Fort Nelson
#83 – North Okanagan-Shuswap
Wednesday, May 28
#34 – Abbotsford
#37 – Delta
#43 – Coquitlam
#47 – Powell River
#50 – Haida Gwaii
#51 – Boundary
#53 – Okanagan Similkameen
#60 – Peace River North
#61 – Greater Victoria
#69 – Qualicum
#73 – Kamloops Thompson
#84 – Vancouver Island West
#91 – Nechako Lakes
#92 – Nisga’a
Thursday May, 29
#8 – Kootenay Lake
#22 – Vernon
#33 – Chilliwack
#36 – Surrey
#41 – Burnaby
#44 – North Vancouver
#45 – West Vancouver
#46 – Sunshine Coast
#57 – Prince George
#58 – Nicola Similkameen
#64 – Gulf Islands
#71 – Comox
#79 – Cowichan Valley
#82 – Coast MountainsSchool District
#93 (Conseil Scolaire Francophone)
Schools will be closed with others in their local communities throughout the week.
With reports from Mike Laanela, CBC News