To the editor:
Supreme Court Justice Susan Griffin’s findings that removing legislation that regulates class size and composition from the British Columbia teachers collective agreement is a violation of the teachers basic human rights of freedom of association is nothing less than bizarre.
The government is the employer, not the union, and it will always be the employer’s prerogative and responsibility to determine job descriptions, class sizes and composition, and the amount of money required to deliver public education.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s (BCTF) claim that collective agreement entitlements become constitutionally protected in perpetuity is equally bizarre, but not surprising.
Governments write all legislation for, and on behalf of the people, and expired collective agreements only serve as templates in future contract negotiations.
The only mandate the courts have is to defend that legislation whenever it is being challenged.
If our judges so desperately want to write our laws, they should put their names on the ballot and ask the people for a mandate to represent them in the legislatures.
The courts have only one role to play in the B.C. teachers’ relationship with the union, and that is simply to enforce the teacher’s basic human rights to freedom of association, and ban mandatory membership in the union.
Governments, the courts and unions do not change our human rights.
Andy Thomsen
Summerland
