An open letter to The Honourable Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia.
I am writing today to express my deep concern for the current labour dispute with teachers.
I am particularly appalled the government would include a clause that seeks to set aside the ruling of two British Columbia Court decisions and the likely future decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.
To include wording that says, "if either party is dissatisfied with the outcome either party may give written notice to the other of termination of the collective agreement," is evidence of the arrogance of your government, clearly signaling that your government is unwilling to abide by the rule of law in this country.
You say you are trying to find a settlement in this labour dispute, yet you have proposed wording that could never be agreed upon by the teachers in British Columbia.
I have a second major concern and that is the position of the government with respect to the funding for teachers and teacher assistants.
The provision of specialist teachers who can support students with these educational needs has been eroded beyond belief over the last two terms of the Liberal government.
What is not understood by your current minister of education and other members of your government is that not only are students with special needs being shortchanged, but regular classroom students are also not getting the teacher time they deserve.
Teachers are trying to teach the special needs students and English language learners and are not able to appropriately work with the regular students in their classes.
Without some framework to put limits on the number of special needs students allocated to classrooms, all students in our public schools are disadvantaged.
How can you say that your government is bargaining in good faith when your proposals include such provocative positions? Do you realize that you are just providing additional evidence of bargaining in bad faith that can be used against your government in the future ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Unless government is willing to withdraw the clause that negates the future decision of the Supreme Court of Canada and propose some funding for class size and composition, there is no hope of obtaining a mutually agreed upon collective agreement.
Donald Lintott
Former deputy superintendent of schools (Retired)
School District No. 38 (Richmond)
