Government legislation to force an end to the teachers job action and make it illegal for them to strike is expected to pass on Thursday.
And with most of the province's 41,000 public school teachers on spring break this week, and students in School District 57 on vacation next week, teachers are not planning to walk off the job again, as they did for three days last week.
Until the Education Advancement Act passes, teachers are legally entitled to withdrawal their services for one day each week, provided they serve 48 hours strike notice, but according to Matt Pearce, president of the Prince George District Teachers Association, that's not going to happen.
"It was problematic in that only about 30 per cent of the teachers in B.C. are in classrooms this week," said Pearce. "If Bill 22 gets royal ascent before Friday, that would also end our bell-to-bell Phase 1 [job action] that we're still in as well."
Since September, teachers across the province have refused to fill out report cards and have not been performing supervisory duties. They stepped up their job action Monday through Wednesday last week by going out on a legal strike that shut down classrooms.
"Our intent around our job action was to raise awareness what Bill 22 really is and we think we've been successful," said Pearce. "I think parents have an understanding of the damaging changes to the School Act that are hidden inside Bill 22 and certainly we'll be going to court next month and Bill 22 will be uncovered for what it is."
The legislation will likely lead to an imposed settlement with no wage increases that expires June 30, 2013. Teachers say the law will also take away the 30-student limit on classroom sizes for Grades 4-7 and will rescind the current class composition cap of three special needs students per classroom.
Michael Fleming, associate chair of the B.C. Labour Relations Board, on Monday wrote to the B.C. Teachers Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers Association to inform the two sides he doubts the appointment of an independent mediator would be of any assistance in helping achieve a collective agreement.
"The Labour Relations Board could have appointed a mediator had the government not decided to continue with legislation, but the LRB decided not to appoint one because they couldn't see there being any time for a mediator to get their work done," said Pearce. "Once that bill becomes law and the stripping process within the bill is activated, there's no chance for the two parties to reach a mediated settlement."
BCTF president Susan Lambert says it was clear from the start of negotiations in May 2011 the government had no intentions of moving away from its net-zero stance on public sector contracts and there was never a possibility of a negotiated settlement.
"Since February 20, the B.C. Teachers' Federation has been working diligently with the LRB to get an independent mediation process under way, unconstrained by preconditions," said Lambert.
"We agreed to modify our proposals significantly and made it clear that teachers were willing to compromise on every objective, including salary. But the government's complete intransigence at the LRB, coupled with its move to push Bill 22 through the Legislature by this Thursday, have dashed any hope for a mediated settlement."
Pearce will be in Vancouver this weekend to attend the BCTF's annual general meeting.
