‘Holding Their Noses’ And Voting Yes – Teachers Ratify Deal
Prince George, BC – BC teachers have ratified the agreement-in-committee reached with the BC Public School Employers’ Association earlier this week.
In a vote conducted over the past two days, slightly more than half of the province’s 41-thousand teachers turned out to cast ballots on the deal reached during discussions with government-appointed mediator, Dr Charles Jago. A total of 21,044 teachers voted 75-percent in favour of the agreement which meets the government’s net-zero mandate.
Speaking with 250News this evening, the President of the Prince George District Teachers Association, Matt Pearce, says, "It was really a case of a lot of people holding their noses and casting a ballot." While local results will not be released, Pearce says, "Like the rest of the province, we had a relatively low turn-out compared to some of the votes we had earlier this year." He attributes that to the fact that the vote was pulled together in a very short period of time and there was one central ballot box, as opposed to one at every school.
"This is not a popular agreement and teachers are not voting for it because they think it’s a good contract," he says. "It does absolutely nothing for our classrooms. In fact, it’s illegal under Bill 22 for us to bargain for improved classroom conditions for our students."
The BC Teachers Federation points out that today’s results are in sharp contrast to those of exactly one year ago, when teachers voted 90-percent to launch their ‘teach only’ campaigning at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. The provincial government passed the Education Improvement Act, Bill 22, in March which legislated an end to the teachers’ job action, imposed a six-month cooling off period, and appointed the mediator.
The BCTF plans to seek redress in the courts for past constitutional violations and to challenge Bill 22. "Our lawyers are very confident that they can make a very effective argument that Bill 22 has violated our right to free collective bargaining," says Pearce. "What happened under Dr Jago was not bargaining, it was forced mediation and the process was conducted, essentially, with a gun to our head with the likelihood of this government – who’s on their way out – stripping our contract if it came down to legislation."
Pearce sees this contract as a stop-gap measure – taking the issue off the table for a short period of time. He’s confident the court challenges will once again prove the government has written illegal legislation. Meantime, the two-year deal will expire at the end of next June, meaning the next round of negotiations will begin in the not-too-distant future.
Comments
Teachers deserve much better than this tyranical government is handing them. Jago should be ashamed of himself, I have certainly lost any respect for him.
Teachers deserve much better? What the hell? According to all the ads on TV I saw from the teachers federation I though this was all about the students? When did this become about the teachers?
Oh right, they didn’t get their raises. This was never about the students…
Lol cmdrjoe!
You would deserve better too if your employer broke the law. Besides a happy worker is a productive worker. If your not happy why would you volunteer your free time to do more! So yes no matter how you look at this it is about the students.
Only half turned out to vote. …thats bad,apparently the other half didn’t care what way the vote went
The other half was on vacation…
Yes NoWay, fire them all.
Why have a bunch of employees that are grumpy all the time especially around kids, let them all go – pay the severance whatever and start again
Question is – why would the union ratify a deal that they hate so much other than to finally realize that was all they were going to get. Wait a year and see if the world and BC economies turn around to get your raise is what they are thinking, Abbot just needs a deal on net-zero as instructed by his bosses
What does this agreement have on any extracurricular activities anyway? If they go back to doing it it does mean exactly that – they were holding the kids hostage in the negotiations – period
The teachers are hoping that in a year, the new NDP minister of education will give in to their $2B in demands in a year’s time. Good luck with that.
‘The teachers are hoping that in a year, the new NDP minister of education will give in to their $2B in demands in a year’s time. Good luck with that.’
They’ll have plenty of luck with that. The teachers union, and the rest of the public sector unions, will cash in big. Generous wage increases, unrealistic sick time and bereavement allowances, iron-clad seniority and job security provisions.
And guess who get’s to pay for it. And guess what will happen to BC’s economy over the 4 years following the next election.
I can’t believe they voted it through with that wide of a margin.
People can’t ignore the fact that most people these days are afraid to strike. Unless you have a job where you gain employment (ie millwright, welder, electrician and such) in a day, people can’t afford to lose money.
What’s going to happen to the BC economy is already happening, and no government will stop it. A credit bubble and a housing bubble are on their way to the bottom. I’m really getting tired of hearing about how great the current government is for the economy. We sell resources, that’s it. While the previous NDP doubled our debt, the current government tripled it from there and during some prosperous times, no less. Shady accounting and fudget budget are not just the realm of the NDP, as has been recently proven.
While the NDP “couldn’t run a lemonaide stand”, the Liberals would borrow to get the lemons and then pay some corporate buddies $3/glass to sell the juice for $1 glass
I’m not an NDP fan, I’m just tired of hearing how much better the Liberals are………….not!
Very well said, govsux.
“What’s going to happen to the BC economy is already happening, and no government will stop it. A credit bubble and a housing bubble are on their way to the bottom.”
I agree govsux.
I think your statement is a very accurate description of the current state of affairs in Prince George, in B.C., in Canada, and in the rest of the so-called advanced economies of the world.
“Question is – why would the union ratify a deal that they hate so much other than to finally realize that was all they were going to get. Wait a year and see if the world and BC economies turn around to get your raise is what they are thinking, Abbot just needs a deal on net-zero as instructed by his bosses.”
They were afraid of the latter. Take something that sucks or end up like the postal workers! Remember what happened to them?
I think all the Public sector unions should say f-you and hit the streets like the students are in Quebec. What are they going to do throw them all in jail?
Did I say Fire them all Slinky? Nope, but maybe that’s how you understood it.
Privatize education, let the market set the wages
Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.
Aristotle
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