Teachers across the province voted 87 per cent in favour of escalating job action.
According to the BCTF, 32,209 ballots were cast with 27,946 voting in favour of harsher
opposition to government back-to-work legislation.
BCTF Executive Committee members will meet today to review the vote results and discuss the next steps in the job action.
"Teachers are determined and united in their opposition to Bill 22 and to the bullying tactics of a provincial government that has deliberately underfunded public education for a decade," said Susan Lambert, president of the BC Teachers' Federation.
Close to 200 of the city's 800 public school teachers cast their ballots over the past two days at the Prince George District Teachers' Association downtown office, while the rest voted Wednesday afternoon prior to a meeting at Vanier Hall.
They were part of voting by B.C. Teachers' Federation members across the province.
The B.C. Labour Relations Board granted teachers the right to strike for three days in the first week of a full withdrawal of services and one day in each
successive week.
The provincial government is passing legislation, expected sometime next week, that would make a teacher walkout illegal, and individual teachers and their union would be subject to heavy fines if they don't show up for school.
PGDTA president Matt Pearce said there will be no "cooling off period" in the teachers' dispute and predicts a bumpy road ahead before there's any new deal with the province.
"This is a period that is going to really anger teachers because we're going to watch as a government mediator strips our contract as he works with the employer," said Pearce.
"The terms of reference for the mediator are designed to create a stripped, imposed collective agreement. It's not a cooling off period."
In the bill they've actually repealed all the parts of the legislation that was illegally stricken and ruled illegal by the Supreme Court decision, and right behind that section of the legislation they've put that all back in Bill 22.
"They know they can write legislation in a weekend, and it takes us years to get a decision in court. In the meantime, they're going to bash us with it."
