Rotating strikes initiated by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation have entered their second week as the union and B.C. Public Sector Employers Administration (BCPSEA) continue to butt heads over a new contract for teachers.
School District 58 takes its second turn in the rotating strikes today.
It was a cool and windy Thursday morning in Merritt the first time around the teachers of SD58 stood outside their schools rather than inside them teaching class.
In groups located at each of Merritt’s six schools, teachers could be seen wearing signs, waving to passing cars, receiving a few honks in the process and talking with passersby that day.
More of the same can be expected today.
Central Elementary special education teacher Diane Clark said the teachers saw support from school support workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and from the general public on Thursday.
Back on May 26, the BCPSEA responded to the strikes with a phased-in lockout.
At the bargaining table, key issues that continue to divide the two sides are wages, classroom size and composition, and contract term.
Clark told the Herald the main issues are class size and composition as opposed to wages.
“We’re losing enough pay with what’s going on with our days off and with the 10 per cent reduction … that even a minimal wage increase is not going to make a difference, so it’s not about wages,” Clark said.
The city’s leisure services department held a day camp on Thursday where 14 students from various elementary schools in town were looked after as the strike went on.
The students, who ranged from ages five to 11, spent the day playing sports, games, making their own snacks and swimming at the aquatic centre.
Day camp leader and substitute teacher Josée Warren said the city was providing a safe location for the students and making a tough situation a little easier.
“I’m a teacher myself, so it’s a tough situation, it is a very tough situation. This is just our way of making a tough situation just a little bit easier on the families,” Warren said.
Warren said the day camp is being held again today.
On Monday, strikes occurred in 13 school districts across B.C., while another 15 districts are on strike today.
No strikes are scheduled for tomorrow, but will resume Thursday and Friday.
BCTF and BCPSEA representatives were at the Labour Relations Board for a hearing last Thursday. They could find out tomorrow whether the government is allowed to reduce teachers’ salaries by 10 per cent and whether the lockout is valid.
Their pay cut is said to amount to $1.2 million in savings per school day for the province.
The strike action is said to save the province over $10 million per week.
School District 58 chairman Gordon Comeau confirmed school districts will get a 20 per cent slice of the money the government is saving from the teachers’ pay cuts.
Comeau said that 20 per cent covers administrative costs associated with the reduced salary.
“It would be nice if they allowed us to keep that money because it’d be money we could put into the classroom, but that traditionally has not happened and we didn’t expect it to happen this time either,” Comeau said.
BCPSEA public administrator Michael Marchbank has said the lockout will end if the teachers cease their rotating strikes.
Unresolved issues
Some of what the teachers are asking for are smaller class sizes, more one-on-one instruction for students and guaranteed levels of specialist teachers.
School District 58 chairman Gordon Comeau said he’d like to see more specialists in the school system, but notes they do provide supports such as educational assistants.
“There’ll never be enough money for public education because you can always make an argument you need more resources. I mean, that’s gone on [for] forever and a day,” Comeau said.
“The ideal situation would be one teacher, one child, but you have to find the balance in which you can say that you’re being fair to the kids, you’re being fair to the parents and the public and you’re also being fair to the taxpayer and being responsible with the dollars that are available,” he said.
The BCTF also wants more time to prepare lessons that engage diverse learning styles.
Comeau said that would involve additional staffing and could be costly.
Nicola Valley Teachers’ Union president Peter Vogt said they are looking for more prep time to deal with new issues surrounding how lesson plans are developed.
Class size and composition (the number of students with special needs in a class) is arguably the biggest issue between the two sides.
In January, a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada found the provincial government’s removal of class size and composition language from teachers’ contracts dating back to 2002 to be unconstitutional and ordered the government to pay the union $2 million.
The government filed an appeal on the ruling, which will not be heard until the fall.
Class size and composition will be a major hurdle to find a resolution to, Comeau told the Herald.
In a past interview with the Herald, Vogt said he doesn’t think discussing issues of class size and composition is practical while they’re before the courts.
Comeau said the impact of going back to the 2002 language would be small for SD58 because it has maintained ratios of non-enrolment teachers from that year.
“The impact in our district would be fairly small, but for some districts it would be very extensive,” Comeau said.
In a press release, Vogt said there are a number of classes in SD58 with a high number of students with special needs.
