Teachers dispute wage cutback

by Kyle Wells [email protected] BC teachers are fighting a BC Public Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) application to the BC Labour Relations Board asking for 15 per cent of teachers’ wages to be returned and requesting report cards be made an essential service.

BCPSEA filed an application to the Labour Relations Board in October to try and amend the essential services order and force teachers to prepare report cards. The application also asks for the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) to pay back each school district 15 to 20 per cent of gross salaries in return for duties that they are not performing.

BC teachers have been involved in ongoing job action since the beginning of the school year. While teaching duties continue, teachers are refusing to take part in any administrative tasks, such as writing report cards or attending staff meetings. Throughout the job action teachers have maintained that the education of students has not been affected and that they are still available to talk to parents about a student’s progress.

At the Tuesday, November 15 school board meeting Cathy Fisher, Powell River and District Teachers’ Association  (PRDTA) president, asked trustees of Powell River Board of Education what their position is on the application. Exiting board chair Debby Lewis told Fisher that at this time the board “is feeling compelled to follow the direction of the provincial organization.”

“We wish no financial hardship on teachers, however school district has been feeling a disturbance,” said Lewis. “We wish and hope that bargaining will continue in good faith and we really hope a resolution will be found as soon as possible.”

Lewis said that the board’s usual representative to BCPSEA, Doug Skinner, did not attend the meeting where members voted on the filing of the application.

Fisher said later to the Peak that she was “shocked” by the board’s answer to her question and its support for BCPSEA’s application.

“This board knows that teachers are working harder than ever,” said Fisher. “They’re here to support what is going on in schools in Powell River. They know that 15 per cent of our job is not reporting and supervising students. I mean, that’s ridiculous.”

On Monday, November 14 the BCTF filed its own submission with the Labour Relations Board disputing BCPSEA’s application. The submission outlines the history of negotiations between BCPSEA, BCTF and the government, in specific relation to essential services relegations. BCTF argues that report cards have never been considered an essential service and that any argument to the contrary has no merit.

The submission also argues that to ask teachers to give up 15 to 20 per cent of their wages when they are still performing 100 per cent of their teaching duties is unreasonable. The submission argues that no evidence exists to suggest that teachers are performing otherwise.

Negotiations between the BCTF and BCPSEA are ongoing. Some of the items are being bargained at the local level, between PRDTA and the board, although Fisher said that there have been no local meetings since late spring. Fisher could not discuss any specifics on items being negotiated locally.