Today is an official day of protest for the province's 41,000 public school teachers.
In Prince George, from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m., teachers plan to line both sides of Highway 97 between Fifth and 10th Avenues, followed by a 45-minute rally in front of the Pat Bell's Prince George-Mackenzie constituency office at 103 - 770 Central St.
Teachers want a negotiated end to their labour dispute to produce a collective agreement rather than what they refer to as "mock mediation," which came as result of Bill 22 legislation enacted in April.
"Given the Labour Relations Board ruling... if there isn't a negotiated agreement we will continue to withdraw from all those voluntary extracurricular activities going on in September and that will go on for the rest of the school year," said Prince George District Teachers Association president Matt Pearce.
Last week in Vancouver, the B.C. Labour Relations Board ruled in favour of the B.C. Teachers Federation in its fight with the B.C. Public School Employers Association to allow teachers to withdraw from voluntary and extracurricular activities outside of normal school hours.
"In boxing terms, that was a split decision in our favour," Pearce said. "The ruling is a majority of things we were doing as part of our Bill 22 protest are not a strike, and they are things we have the ability to continue to do next year."
The board deemed several protest actions of teachers in other districts were illegal and ordered teachers to take part in school-based team meetings with administrators as well as individual education meetings and parent-teacher consultations. But Pearce said SD 57 teachers have never withdrawn from those meetings during their job action, which started last September.
"What we have withdrawn from -- the coaching, sports teams, clubs, field trips, graduation -- those were declared legal by the Labour Relations Board," he said.
Facing a legislated end to their dispute, the BCTF expressed its disappointment that mediator Charles Jago was unavailable for contract talks with the teachers Monday and Tuesday, due to his commitments as chair of the Northern Health Authority's board of governors. Jago has imposed a deadline of this Friday, after which he will prepare a report containing non-binding recommendations to Education Minister George Abbott, who will determine if there is still a chance for a negotiated settlement. Teachers went to court two weeks ago to have Jago removed as mediator because of perceived bias.
