07) BCTF REACHES BARGAINING DEAL

     Members of the BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF) have voted by a margin of three to one to accept a new collective agreement. The vote came after a lengthy struggle, during which Premier Christy Clark's Liberals bitterly fought against any improvements for teachers or classroom conditions.

     The agreement includes no salary improvements. But it does increase bereavement leave to up to eight weeks partially paid, and unpaid discretionary leave for up to three days and unpaid family leave for up to five days. The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2011, and expires on June 30, 2013, weeks after the next B.C. election set for May 14, 2013.

     BCTF President Susan Lambert called the changes to leave a "modest improvement," but says the most important part was what government didn't include.

     "The government was forced to take off the table the punitive legislations that Minister Abbott and the Premier consistently and constantly threatened to bring into being," Lambert told the media.

The threatened legislation included the elimination of seniority rights, lack of transparency in layoff and recall of teachers, and loss of autonomy in professional development.

     The BCTF is taking the government to court over Bill 22, the so-called "Education Improvement Act", which required a collective agreement to meet the government's net‑zero mandate.

     Lambert says the union wants government to put back the $3.3 billion cut from education over the last decade.

     "This civil claim is aimed at getting our rights back," she says. "Yes, the public education system should get money back. We're asking for smaller class sizes, we're asking for full‑time a library in every school, counselling services for kids."

     (With files from The Tyee)

(The above article is from the August 1-31, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)