RNMENT, AND WHAT

ruling, the BC teachers moved to go on strike at the beginning of this summer.
Even before all this hubbub, the Globe and Mail reports that following
the teachers’ winning “the right to collective bargaining in 1987 there have
been 52 strikes, a series of controversial legislation, bitter court battles, and
only a single new contract signed without the aid of strikes or legislation.”
The issues between the BC government and the BCTF, while perceived
as emerging from the genesis of the Liberal Party’s reign, is a worn-out
battle that just keeps getting older. As retired history professor of U-Vic,
Thomas Fleming said, “the battle between them has been biblical.”
While I support the teachers and their demands, this current strike has
rapidly become an ego-match between Premier Christy Clark, Fassbender,
and BCTF president Jim Iker. The news reports are decreasingly about
the kids and teachers and more about the faces in this stand-off, as one
side professes that the other is unwilling to bend, and vice versa.
Neither side is astronomically different in their proposals. Granted, even small
changes in class sizes can have huge cost effects, but there aren't seas of difference
between one position and the other: the government isn’t trying to push 70 students

into a classroom, and the teachers aren't trying to reduce the number of students per :

class to five. There is a middle-ground that it would be entirely reasonable to mosey
on over to. While mediator Vince Ready said to the CBC “I don’t see a resolution
here before the start of school given the positions of the parties ... They are a long,
long ways apart,” he wasn’t talking about their actual positions on the debate; he
was referring to the respective sides’ reluctance to compromise and communicate.
This inability to negotiate has come up before, as in 1995: during those
negotiations, the Globe and Mail reports that “the BCTF vowed ‘no concessions,
... The government viewed the talks as a ‘blank slate’ With no agreement

YOU NEED TO KNOW

possible, both sides agreed to extending the existing contracts to 1998.”

Negotiations cannot originate from a resistance to compromise. Both sides have
to give a little—not just the teachers or the government; if not, as Ready suggested,
there will be no progress. Unfortunately, with all the build-up over the last few
months, I don’t see either the government or the federation relenting willingly.

The teachers are not in the wrong at all, but I can’t with complete assuredness say
that the federation is in the right. Although the BCTF reportedly offered to cut over
$100-million from their requests for increased wages and benefits, clearly neither side
is willing to meet in the middle. As Fassbender said, “There is still over $300-million
of gap between [the BCTF and] what the government has put on the table.”

While, again, I support BC teachers and my heart breaks for the
boundless hostility they’ve had to face, the people who are getting
lost in this ongoing, seemingly endless dispute are the kids.

Kids who are in need of increased support staff are suffering all the more
from a complete lack of educational support. At-risk youth are missing out on
educational structure while these interminable negotiations go on. The kids
who might struggle in school initially but prosper under a teacher’s attentive
guidance are only benefitting from what $40/day can get their parents.

This is also an issue that seriously affects parents—particularly those at lower
income levels who have to find arrangements for their kids while working. It’s little
wonder that a recent Iposos Reid poll shows 35 per cent of parents in favour of the
BC government and 33 per cent on the side of the BC teachers—a near perfect split.

While I support the teachers, my feelings towards this seemingly unending
and increasingly unproductive strike are, similarly, a near perfect split. As
we hope for improved educational environments, keep in mind that the
educational environments are entirely unavailable to students right now.