Image Credit: Mel Rothenburger

By Mel Rothenburger

Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: School is back, be ready for another teachers’ strike

Sep 4, 2019 | 9:10 AM

SCHOOL IS BACK IN and the busy days of September are underway as parents engage in the morning hustle of getting their kids off to class.

Looming in the background is another round of contract talks between the B.C. Teachers Federation and the government’s bargaining agency.

It seems only recently that we went through the last one. Almost exactly five years ago, a nasty teachers’ strike came to an end when a deal with government negotiators was reached. Those of us who were here at the time will remember schools being closed behind picket lines and teacher rallies along Columbia Street and at Riverside Park.

Teachers got a 7.25-per cent pay increase, health benefits and a guarantee that more teachers would be hired.

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If you see a discrepancy in the arithmetic between a six-year deal and the expiration of the contract less than five years later, it’s because that’s the way things go in B.C. teacher bargaining. Contracts are never settled on time, leading to months of high stress.

Aside from salaries — which the BCTF says are among the lowest in Canada — the sticking point has traditionally been class sizes and composition. Despite a legal victory since the last contract restoring the BCTF’s right to bargain class sizes, they’re on the table again with disagreements over contract language.

It seems to me that salaries and class sizes are directly linked. Lower class sizes mean more teachers are needed, and more teachers means higher salary costs, which means higher taxes.

Even the NDP is struggling with it. The right to bargain smaller class sizes may be a case of “be careful what you wish for” for the BCTF.

And, sadly, it could mean teachers will once again be on the picket lines.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.