A squandered opportunity. That’s how BC Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker characterized the weekend of bargaining Monday morning, June 16, as he confirmed the full strike was imminent.
Iker said the union, which represents 40,000 teachers, presented a new contract proposal to BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) on Friday, June 13.
Despite promises from education minister Peter Fassbender that bargaining talks would happen over the weekend, the president said the teachers’ union waited until Sunday night to hear back.
The proposal increased the term of the contract to five years and reduced salary demands to eight per cent plus a $5,000 signing bonus. It also made guarantees that the government would not have to deal with retroactive grievances from teachers on class size and composition.
Fassbender, speaking in front of BCPSEA offices, said the government responded with another offer and it was waiting for the teachers’ union to respond.
He said he was still hopeful both sides could reach an agreement.
Contract negotiations began 16 months ago and teachers have not had a contract since June 2013.
Teachers voted 89 per cent early in March in favour of the limited job action.
They have been under partial lockout since starting their rotating strikes in May and have had their pay docked 10 per cent.
The union started rotating strikes in late May, cancelling classes for students one day each week in every district in the province. The last day of rotating strikes in Powell River was Friday, June 13.
Eighty-six per cent of the BCTF’s members voted June 9 and 10 in favour of escalating job action if need. The union gave its 72-hour strike notice Thursday, June 12.
Approximately half a million students did not have class Monday morning as teachers reviewed the latest bargaining proposals.
Parents jostled to find childcare while they waited for word about the weekend talks. In many cases it was extended family to the rescue.
For Powell River resident Jon van Oostveen, who works from his home, the strike has meant some juggling and rearranging of priorities.
“It’s not too hard for us because my work is all based at home, but I’m doing less of what I was planning on doing,” said van Oostveen whose twin daughters, Charlie and Ella, are in the district’s French immersion program at James Thomson Elementary School. “We have resources at home so that they’ll be able to continue learning.”
Van Oostveen and his wife Dr. Susan Horsfall intend to enroll their girls in a summer reading and recreation program, summer camp at Powell River Therapeutic Riding Association and organize with other friends to do activities together, he said.
Samantha Hurrie is a single parent who said she’s having to “scramble every single day” of the strike to find someone to take care of her two six-year-old daughters.
“It’s going to be a real financial burden,” said Hurrie. She said her family has done its best to help, but she often has to hire a sitter to watch her girls.
She said that while parents may have been able to make arrangements for summer vacation, having the summer start two weeks earlier has put an increased burden on many single parents with full-time jobs.
Hurrie said she has phoned daycares and has not heard back from the three she called.
“I guess they’re busy getting back to other people,” she said.
Hurrie estimates that she would have to pay about $60 per day per child for care.
“I didn’t expect this at all,” she said. “I accommodated for the one or two days and I do support the teachers and understand what they are going through.” Hurrie was a member of a nurses union in Alberta before moving back to British Columbia. “It’s a less than ideal situation. It’s desperate for a lot of people I know because they are just above the maximum allowable income for the daycare subsidy, so they are working to pay daycare and then living well below the poverty line,” she added.
Hurrie said she is eligible for help from a government subsidy and has been looking into that for the summer, but admits that she has not done that yet because she did not need to while her children were in full-time kindergarten.
She supports the idea of creating more spaces for childcare and making it more financially accessible for working people.
“I know kids who are too young to be getting themselves ready in the morning, who are getting themselves ready in the morning and then walking home after school to an empty house because there’s no where for them to go,” she added.
In Alberta most schools had before and after school care which would then turn into summer daycare, but that’s not an option here, she said.
The Peak contacted a number of licensed family childcare centres in Powell River and found that only a few were accepting new children and most were already operating at capacity.
Throughout the rotating strikes, Powell River Recreation Complex has been organizing a day camp called Kid’s Club to try to help parents who are stuck for childcare and they plan to continue the camp during the full strike.
Patti Coburn, recreation program coordinator for the complex, said Friday that organizers were also scrambling to put together a program that could cover some of the two weeks before summer vacation was officially to start.
The complex has eight weeks of day camps planned for parents to keep children engaged over the summer, but rushing to create a program poses some challenges.
The pool has been shut down for annual maintenance and space is limited around the complex with PRISMA (Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy) running from June 16 to 28.
The three-day-a-week program started on Tuesday, June 17, and runs Tuesday to Thursday, each of the two weeks.
There are sibling discounts and Coburn is asking parents to phone ahead to register, 604.485.2891.
Fees for three days is $120 or parents can pay a daily rate of $45.
“The pool is closed but we’re going to have a lot of other activities to keep them busy,” said Coburn.
