Education Minister George Abbott picked Dr. Charles Jago to mediate in the provincial public school teachers labour dispute not because Jago has experience as a mediator, but because of his reputation as a leader who can get the job done.
As health minister with the Liberal government, Abbott got to know Jago for his leadership as an executive with the Northern Health Authority and he's also aware of the work Jago did as a university president, turning UNBC into one of Canada's top-rated small universities.
As far as Abbott is concerned, Jago is the right person for the job of completing a mission described by many as impossible. He's trying to bring together two parties with a four-decade history of rocky relationships to help settle the one remaining public sector union contract left under the province's net-zero mandate.
"He remains in my mind an individual with the kind of intellect, with the kind of diplomatic skills, with the thoughtful constructive and respectful nature that can potentially bring these parties closer together," said Abbott, who paid a visit to Duchess Park secondary school Friday.
"Both sides are going to have to give great thought to the issues raised and the mediator has the opportunity to engage in any issue beyond the net-zero. The stumbling block from Day 1 has been the refusal of the B.C. Teachers' Association to accept that net-zero applies to them."
Abbott doesn't agree with the BCTF's contention that Jago's involvement in producing a Progress Board report in 2006 for the education ministry, in which he was critical of teachers' seniority rights and their right to determine professional development choices, suggests Jago will be biased as a mediator.
"It's important to note, we have asked Dr. Jago to act as mediator, not as an arbitrator," Abbott said. "Dr. Jago's goal is to bring together parties that have been locked into a a really intractable dispute for well over a year now with little or no sign of progress in terms of that dispute.
"It's a shame that the BCTF has so readily dismissed the great skills and capability that Dr. Jago could bring to a discussion. They spent a portion on one day with him before concluding they didn't wish to continue work with him. We haven't even tried the mediation process yet."
The BCTF submitted a formal complaint to the B.C. Labour Relations Board over the choice of Jago as mediator and Abbott is expecting a ruling on that by Monday. Until that is settled, negotiations will not proceed.
"There's a possibility that it may go on to the B..C. Supreme Court, but we don't know," said Abbott.
Abbott said there were a total of 1,109 issues raised in talks with teachers in the past year and only four of those issues have been resolved.
"The bad relationship goes back more like 40 years," said Abbott. "There's an excellent book by (University of Victoria history professor) Thomas Fleming -- Worlds Apart -- which documents and analyzes the long troubled disfunction between governments of all stripes and the BCTF.
"Turning a corner in that relationship was something I hoped to see as a minister of education... but really since phase 1 of the collective bargaining dispute got underway it has been very difficult to get together with the BCTF to talk about anything."
The Bill 22 legislation sets a deadline of June 30 for Jago to make his recommendations, which would be non-binding. Beyond that date, the government would have the power to impose a contract settlement on teachers that would expire on June 30, 2013.
Abbott was in Prince George for a Liberal cabinet meeting Friday afternoon at the Civic Centre and later met for a roundtable discussion with the School District 57 board, its partner groups, school principals and parent advisory councils.
