The president of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association heads to Victoria this week to remind politicians that teachers want a negotiated contract as opposed to one imposed by the province.
Derek DeGear said he and first vice-president Justin Green are heading to the B.C. parliament buildings on Wednesday to talk with MLAs Ron Cantelon, Doug Routley and Leonard Krog about the teachers’ perspective on bargaining.
“We’re not looking for the moon, we just want to negotiate,” he said. “We see a legislated solution as a failure on the government’s part. Locals across the province have been encouraged to make the trip down.”
Teachers’ contracts expired last June and job action started in September. Job action consists of teachers refusing to do non-essential duties such as playground supervision and report cards.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association met formally almost 80 times in the last year.
The province recently appointed a labour ministry fact-finder to look into the likelihood of a negotiated settlement between the union and BCPSEA.
Assistant deputy minister Trevor Hughes has until Thursday (Feb. 23) to report on possible solutions to the year-long deadlock between the two parties.
DeGear said he believes the province is keen on a legislated solution to bargaining, which is why it has appointed a government insider and the BCTF is calling for the province to appoint an independent mediator.
The union feels it is the right time to make sure its message gets out to politicians, as opposed to after the report is released and the province has reacted, he added.
“I want to remain optimistic,” said DeGear. “If the issue does come up in the house, then MLAs will understand the issue from our perspective.”
He said while the province’s “net zero” mandate is at the root of stalled talks – the province maintains that there is no additional money while teachers are seeking improvements to wages and benefits – there are other reasons.
Teachers also want negotiated limits on classroom sizes and the number of special needs students returned to their contracts – the province wants to keep these limits in legislation – and the union wants more power at local bargaining tables, said DeGear.
– With files from Tom Fletcher
