In a bid to end the current teachers' labour dispute, School District 57 trustees are asking for government intervention to kickstart negotiations.
The board sent a letter Wednesday to Premier Christy Clark urging her to get involved in the province-wide teachers' strike, which began with the start of the current school year.
"What we hope is government gets in involved and we get some negotiations happening in earnest here, in the best interest of the students, in the best interests of all staff, and in learning," said School District 57 board vice chair Trish Bella.
Matt Pearce, president of the Prince George District Teachers Federation, said although there has been no significant progress at the negotiating table between the 40,000 teachers and the B.C. Public Schools Employers' Association (BCPSEA) in more than six months, having the government become directly involved in bargaining is worrisome.
"This board is basically telling its bargaining agent, BCPSEA, they want them out of the process, which is a big move for a school board to do," said Pearce. "Allegedly BCPSEA speaks for boards of education in the bargaining process. Our board is upset with BCPSEA because it has been doing things without direction from school boards and the boards are not happy with the direction that's been taken.
"[BCPSEA] is under a mandate which doesn't allow them to reach a collective agreement with us and the government created that mandate. They are asking us to agree to a massive stripping of a contract that was already stripped illegally and that's their position at the table. They know our members will never ratify such a thing, so there is no real hope we will reach an agreement with BCPSEA."
Encouraged by a B.C. Supreme Court ruling in April, which found the province's law unconstitutional in 2002 when it removed language from the contract relating to class size and composition and replaced that with legislation, Pearce said the teachers would almost certainly take the province to court again if it intervened in the current negotiations.
"The court decision in April spoke about the need for governments to stay out of collective bargaining processes until circumstances forced them to intervene, such as the disruption of an essential service," said Pearce. "We do not believe our current job action is anywhere near that level of disruption."
Although board administration is filling in for teachers to provide supervision at schools during the job action, Bella is hearing positive reports that teachers are still open to contact with parents and are acting in the best interests of students.
Pearce said the teachers will continue to update parents on students' progress through direct meetings and e-mail, and will give parents access to student files that show their marks, but he said report cards will be left blank when they are sent to school administration.
