Teachers owe a degree of thanks to provincial health-care workers for their court victory.
In making her decision, B.C. Supreme Court Judge Susan Griffin relied heavily on a 2007 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that tossed out B.C. legislation which affected the rights of health-care workers by allowing contracting out of some services.
Griffin noted the government's argument that the law was necessary because it faced unusual and critical circumstances of "labour unrest and virtual paralysis of the public school system."
But Griffin disagreed and highly criticized the evidence offered by the government.
She said the government's argument that class size limits were causing hardship to students and parents was based on "anecdotal hearsay" and was "vague and unsubstantiated."
In fact, Griffin said the government's legislation - and the consultations leading up to it - actually made things worse. She said the bargaining agent for the government was aware changes were in the works, so had little reason to hash out some of the more contentious issues.
"The [British Columbia Public School Employers' Association] knew, during the 2001 collective bargaining process, that there was a good possibility that the new government would enact legislation that the [association] would consider favourable to it," Griffin said in her written ruling.
"It was likely that [the association] had no motivation to compromise in its collective bargaining."
She said although the government shared its plans with the association, it didn't do so with the teachers.
But Griffin rejected the union's argument that the government was bargaining in bad faith, though she suggested the union had reason to believe that was the case.
The judge noted an earlier fact-finding report to the province that concluded bargaining practices prior to 1993 had meant the government lost financial control over money being spent in agreements.
She said it's clear the government wanted class size limits removed from collective bargaining because smaller class sizes mean more costs to the public purse.
But she said the government had other options than using the hammer of legislation.
Griffin concluded class size limits affect the working conditions of teachers and "allowing workers a process to have a voice in their working conditions, regardless of the outcome, is thought to have a mediating or therapeutic impact on industrial conflict."
"I conclude ... the government infringed teachers' freedom of association," she wrote.
"This infringement was not a reasonable limit demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
"We need to go back and make sure that we address the issues that the court raised and we absolutely will do that," she said.
"I do think that we are getting off on a different foot with the teachers' union than we have in the past."
Both the legislation making class size and composition non-negotiable and the legislation affecting health-care workers were passed in 2002.
