Bearing placards, carrying horns and noise makers, and shouting slogans, a day-long strike Tuesday culminated in a rally that drew about 300 teachers and other unionized school employees to MLA Shirley Bond's office.
And while the sunny sky gave way to a heavy downpour during the hour-long event, their spirits appeared to be anything but dampened as speaker after speaker slammed the Premier Christy Clark and her B.C. Liberals over the flagging contract negotiations.
The decision to roll back teachers' pay by 10 per cent drew particular criticism from Prince George and District Teachers Association president Tina Cousins who said the cut has been imposed only because they're not doing supervision and not going to staff meetings.
"That is unacceptable and disrespectful," Cousins said as she spoke from the back of a pickup truck parked on Fifth Avenue.
As part of the lockout that began Monday, teachers are prohibited from showing up for worker any sooner than 45 minutes before the school day begins and must be off the site by no later than 45 minutes after it ends.
But, according to a B.C. government information sheet, the B.C. Teachers Federation had already ordered teachers to be on site no sooner than one hour before and stay no later than one hour after school has finished as part of its first-stage, low level job action.
In an interview Wednesday, Education Minister Peter Fassbender said a five per cent cut was first contemplated but was doubled to 10 per cent when teachers decided to launch the rotating strikes.
"We don't think it is unusual in a labour dispute that if employees withdraw their services that their pay should be affected," he said. "That's true in every other labour dispute situation and we quite honestly don't see why the BCTF thinks that they should be treated differently."
Bearing placards with the slogan "A Better Deal for Teachers, Better Support for Kids" they
marched along the sidewalk from Parkwood Mall to Bond's office, chanting slogans calling for a "fair deal."
Once there, they were greeted by Tom Petty's "Won't Back Back Down" followed by Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" playing out of the speakers.
Members from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Professional Employees Union, which also represent school employees, as well as the Hospital Employees Union and Unifor, joined in the rally.
The government is offering a wage increase of 7.3 per cent over six years, while the union wants a 13.7 per cent raise over four years.
Speaking at the rally, PGDTA past president Matt Pearce noted the government's offer includes no increases for the first two years and said teachers have taken zero in seven of the last 15 years.
He also recounted B.C. Liberal attempts to prevent teachers from negotiating class sizes and other working conditions through "contract stripping" legislation passed in 2002.
In January, a Supreme Court of B.C. judge reaffirmed a 2011 court ruling that found the legislation was unconstitutional. The province is appealing the 2014 decision.
"Twelve years of no collective bargaining rights, seven zeros in 15 and you want two more? Good luck," Pearce said in answer to Fassbender's assertion that teachers are "not fitting the pattern" in terms of settlements reached with other provincial public servants.
Fassbender said that to go back to 2001 levels in terms of class size and composition could result on a tax increase of $1,100 a year for every taxpayer in the province, "and that is clearly unaffordable."
He also said there are "hard caps" on class sizes. Class size for kindergarten cannot exceed 22 students and grades one to three cannot exceed 24 students. For grades four to 12, the limit is 30 in general although they can be larger for band, drama and physical education
Schools were back in session today but another round of rotating strikes is set for next week, with Prince George teachers once again off the job on Tuesday.
Bond was in Victoria for the final day of the spring session in the legislature.
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