Students are still caught in the middle of the teachers’ strike, which may continue through the summer.
Justice Stephen Kelleher has determined that BC teachers and the government are so far apart that they aren’t even ready for mediation yet.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender said the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) and the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) engaged in exploratory discussions with Kelleher to determine whether the time was right for medication.
“It was recognized that if the parties were in the same zone, mediation might help land a settlement. Unfortunately, through these
exploratory discussions it became explicitly clear that the BCTF executive would not commit to tabling a set of demands that fall in
the same affordability zone as the other public sector agreements reached to date,” Fassbender said.
The minister said the government has a fundamental commitment to balance the budget
and an obligation to deal fairly with 300,000 BC public sector workers.
“However, the BCTF continues to demand total compensation gains that are more than twice what other unions have settled for. On top of
that, they are also pushing for hundreds of millions more each year in other contract demands.”
Fassbender said no process and no mediator can bridge the gap at this time.
Jim Iker, BCTF president, agreed that medication will not be productive right now.
“The government, by trying to impose a series of unworkable preconditions prior to entering into mediation, has not provided the flexibility required to make mediation work.”
Iker said the BCTF has made a number of significant moves to bring the two sides closer together, including a salary proposal that puts the two sides within one per cent.
“Teachers have been looking for government to respond with counterproposals that would improve learning conditions for students like class size, class composition, and staffing levels for specialist teachers,” said Iker.
Iker noted that the government wants teachers to accept wage demands before they will even disclose their new proposals on class size and composition.
“That is unacceptable. At no point during these exploratory talks did the government offer any new money for class size, class composition, or staffing levels for specialist teachers.”
Iker said the BCTF will re-engage Kelleher again in August if no progress is made in July.
