04) BC COMMUNISTS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY
WITH TEACHERS
Resolution in support of the BC
Teachers' Federation, adopted unanimously at 39th B.C. Provincial Convention of
the Communist Party of
It is very
clear that the BC provincial Liberal government has been provoking the BC
Teachers' Federation (BCTF) to a full strike, so that they can impose a legislated
contract. Aside from the net zero mandate, the BC Public School Employers
Association (BCPSEA) has put a series of union busting proposals forward.
The latest
set of BCPSEA proposals calls for further stripping of the BCTF collective
agreement and includes (amongst a host of provocative proposals) the virtual
elimination of seniority, the elimination of postings filled during the year
(teachers to be placed by the employer), forced transfers of any employee at
the initiative of the employer, elimination of a grievance process for disputes
in posting, in filling, elimination of processes during discipline and
dismissal, caps and restrictions on sick leave, and maternity leave, and
substantial restriction to professional autonomy. The employer has offered no
improvement to any provision. The Labour
Relations Board has turned down BCPSEA's outrageous
demand for a 15% reduction in teachers' pay, and their claim that report cards
were an essential service.
The recently
announced BC Education Plan, the province's vision for education in the 21st
Century ‑ assumes contractual changes not yet agreed to by teachers. It
is clear that the provincial government ‑ rather than dealing with the
Supreme Court's decision re the illegality of the contract stripping of Bills
27 and 28 ‑ is intent on steamrolling an agenda that will increase
corporate influence in schools, diminish democratic control by school boards,
and severely weaken the BCTF.
The attack on
the BCTF should be a major cause for concern by the labour
movement.
The Communist
Party of BC condemns the provincial government and BCPSEA for its unwillingness
to fairly bargain with teachers. We call on the provincial government to
provide a massive infusion of funding into the woefully underfunded education
system; to end the net‑zero mandate; to expand the scope of local
bargaining, and provide the necessary funding for that expansion; to drop the
provocative demands that undermine basic union rights such as seniority; to
seriously address the Supreme Court's decision re the illegality of Bills 27
and 28 and to begin to bargain fairly with the BCTF.
The Communist
Party also declares solidarity with BCTF in whatever actions it takes to
protect its members and further the interests of BC children, youth and
parents.
(The above
article is from the January 1-31, 2012, issue of People's