While Richmond teachers went on the march to Victoria on Tuesday to demonstrate with thousands of their B.C. colleagues on the lawns of the legislature, those who stayed behind were joined by CUPE workers on the protest line in front of the Richmond School District offices on Granville Avenue.
About 150 City of Richmond and school district union members came out to support the teachers in their bid to challenge the government's legislation - Bill 22.
The bill will force the teachers back to work and make it illegal for them to strike for the next six months, during which time a government-appointed mediator will try to bring the two sides together, while maintaining a net-zero balance.
The teachers' threeday strike is expected to end Wednesday afternoon, despite suggestions they may continue - albeit illegally - beyond what the Labour Relations Board (LRB) has permitted.
During the strike, groups of teachers paraded around their schools, waving signs of protest - the LRB ruled they couldn't picket or even "hang" signs around their necks, picket-line style.
Despite the obvious inconvenience the strike has caused thousands of families, Richmond Teachers Association (RTA) president Al Klassen said public support has not wavered during the walkout.
"The teachers have been reporting lots of honks and waves and lots of donuts being handed to them," Klassen told the News from the Legislature lawn on Tuesday.
"I think the public understands what's happening here."
Klassen said that, as far as RTA's members go, they will be back at work on Thursday. "We haven't heard anything that would suggest that it would change."
Education Minister George Abbott said the strike has given teachers a chance to vent, but he expressed dismay at the level of vitriol. He also noted the strike will save the ministry $11 million a day in teachers' wages, money that will be spent on education.
"We are looking at what we might do with those savings. Certainly one of the things we might look at is potentially the Learning Improvement Fund (for special needs education) and perhaps bolstering it in an early year," he said.
The fund, which would be created under Bill-22, will gradually increase over three years.
Abbott said he had heard suggestions of a walkout extending beyond Wednesday's legal deadline, but remained hopeful that would not happen.
Teachers followed rules from the LRB with this week's strike, he noted, and there's no reason to think that will change. "We're expecting schools to be open and functioning on Thursday."
After this week, the union has LRB permission to strike one day per week, just as most districts take a two-week spring break.
Parents have been scrambling all week to have their children cared for during the strike.
Some took their kids to work, some were left at home with older siblings and some in Richmond even turned up at school.
Monica Pamer, district superintendent, reported that 25 students showed up at schools around Richmond on Monday.
"The amount varied from school to school," she said.
Pamer couldn't say whether the students arrived because their parents were unaware of the strike or whether it was a childcare issue.
As for any possibility of the teachers not coming back to work Thursday, Pamer said it's difficult to second-guess what might happen.
"We are working on the assumption that the teachers will be back on Thursday," she said. "Things could change by Thursday, but that's our understanding of what is going to happen. The situation is very difficult for everyone. Families and the whole community are affected. There's a lot of human experience happening and we have to remember there's a really important reason that we all work together."
Many parents also put to good use the emergency day camps laid on by the city at seven locations throughout Richmond.
Camps were provided at Hamilton, Thompson, West Richmond, Steveston, South Arm and Cambie community centres, as well as the Olympic oval.
The crux of the teachers strike revolves around class sizes and composition and their wages and benefits, which they say have fallen way behind other provinces.
The B.C. government is currently pushing through Bill-22, which will force the teachers back to work and appoint a mediator to bring the two sides together during a six-month "cooling off " period.
Quite what the mediator can achieve - given he or she will have to work within the government's net zero increase mandate - has been the subject of much criticism.
