The teachers' union had best step back and think carefully before it writes its next move in stone.

The union's decision to unnecessarily ramp up its war against Premier Christy Clark and the BC Liberal government could become a rout -and not in the teachers' favour.

The B.C. Teachers Federation lost a big battle when the BC Liberals tabled legislation forcing a "cooling-off" period and a round of mediation. The appointment of Charles Jago, an apparently BC Liberal-friendly mediator, also could be construed as a defeat.

But in fact, the teachers' union should quit while it's ahead -because it is ahead: by losing the legislative battle, the teachers actually won. So job action of the kind now being proposed by the BCTF will be counter-productive on nearly all fronts.

Students and their parents won't take kindly to losing sports days, graduation ceremonies, band concerts and school plays, end-of-year field trips… major activities that the kids have looked forward to for the entire school year (and in the case of graduation, throughout their school years).

Indeed, teachers themselves are balking at throwing away countless hours of organization and preparation, and of disappointing the eager youngsters who are, after all, the very reasons for their career choices. Like all the rest of us, they don't volunteer for nothing. They really are in it for the kids.

It's something the BCTF honchos point out repeatedly… but do they understand what they're saying?

With the legislation and mediator in place, the BCTF is now playing a game of diminishing returns. Even if it beats the BC Liberals, everyone else gets beaten, too. And let's face it, the BC Liberals have already lost anyway.

Teachers would do better to accept the victory, and gird for the next battle. -B.G.