Since money, or rather the lack of it, seems to be an issue in the on-going bargaining impasse, paying parents will not settle the teachers’ strike. Instead, it could make it harder for the provincial government and BC Teachers’ Federation to come to a solution.
Finance minister Michael de Jong announced the government’s plan Friday, July 31. In it, the government will pay parents $40 per day for each child 13 years old or younger if the teachers are still walking the picket lines September 2.
The money will come from strike savings, said de Jong. He estimates the plan will cost about $12 million per day–approximately the same as teachers’ salaries.
That’s traditionally not what has happened with strike savings.
The teachers’ union expected that the government would take the money it saved from the strike and use it to at least partially pay for a teachers’ raise, even a moderate one, and also apply it toward reducing class size and supporting class composition restrictions.
Boards of education around the province, including Powell River, have asked the government to abandon its plan and take steps to end the strike by putting the money into the Learning Improvement Fund and keep the money in public education.
The union questioned the government’s decision and went so far as to suggest that the government did not actually want to find a solution to the dispute. A system that does not appear to be working provides the government with more licence to “fix” the problem.
The government has reiterated its position that it will not legislate the teachers back to work, but that might change if nothing happens in September to resolve the dispute. The next legislative session will convene at the beginning of October.
Of course, few parents will object to the financial help for childcare. After all, families are caught right in the middle of the dispute. Deciding what to do with their children in September and how to pay for it no doubt will continue to be a challenge.
However, $40 only goes so far. It might be all right for paying a neighbourhood babysitter to watch the children, but in the long-term is babysitting really what BC students need?
After almost a month of stalemate, it is encouraging to see that both sides will go back to the bargaining table on Friday, August 8.
