BC Job Action

The BC Job Action is a huge event that greatly affects those who live in BC. This event started from around September and is still currently in progress. I will try to summarize  the main points of this event.

How did this job action all start?  Well, the  five-year contract between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and B.C. Public School Employers’ Association  (BCPSEA) ended on June 30, 2011. This contract gave the teachers an average of 16%  raise and $4,700 bonus. Teachers say they want this raise because their pay has fallen from 3rd place to 8th place.  They also want more say in the size and composition of  their classrooms.  Teachers work under the B.C. labour law which means they have limited rights to administer job action and are not allowed to legally shut down the entire school system. This leads to what is happening in this BC job action. Teachers are not allowed to do those things but they are allowed to not be involved in non-teaching duties, like supervising playgrounds, meeting with principals, filling out forms or report cards, or doing many of the other jobs they normally do.

On Sept 6, the school year started,  teachers began what they called “Phase 1” of job action. Which means that they’ll eliminate day-to-day administrative duties.  The failed the negotiations between BCTF, and the BCPSEA, left the BC’s teachers without a contract.   Teachers are asking for a 15 per cent increase over three years, while the government says they do not have any money for any wage or benefits increases under its net-zero mandate for all public-sector contracts.

On Monday, March 5th,2012 the teachers started their 3-day strike,but were not allowed to strike again until Aug. 31.  Meanwhile, B.C. students also planned their own walkout on Friday to call attention to the effects the dispute is having on their education.

Till this day, they are still not close to an agreement. Extra-curricular activities are now being threatened. These activities include graduation ceremonies, sports, clubs etc. When will this job action end? Will “Phase 2” of the job action happen?

Read more about this event here

click here to read my response on the BC Job Action

Citation

News, CBC. “B.C. Teachers to Start 3-day Strike Monday – British Columbia.” CBCnews. aaaaaaaaCBC/Radio Canada, 01 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 June 2012.

Press, The Canadian. “B.C. Teachers Start School Year with Job Action.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio aaaaaaaaaCanada, 06 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 June 2012.

Wader. “Support from Others.” Flickr. Yahoo!, 20 Oct. 2005. Web. 03 June 2012. aaaaaaaaa<http://www.flickr.com/photos/wader/54481162/&gt;.