School District 43 hallways and parking lots were virtual ghost towns early this week as most of the district's 30,000 students stayed home from school during three days of teacher job action, which was to end today.
By Thursday, public school teachers will be back in the classroom, although they won't be doing administrative duties and some may decide to curtail extra-curricular or other volunteer duties, according to Coquitlam Teachers' Association president Teresa Grandinetti.
Led by the BC Teachers' Federation, which sought and won approval for limited strike action with the Labour Relations Board, some 2,000 Coquitlam teachers walked off the job Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, although many kept vigil in front of schools, carrying signs they were permitted under LRB rules.
Last week's decision to strike had SD43 administrators scrambling to deploy managers and non-excluded staff to schools in case parents decided to send their children to class on Monday. But only 56 students showed up at local schools to do homework, crafts or worksheets, according to SD43 spokesperson Cheryl Quinton, which meant district office personnel weren't required to help with supervision.
As well, SD43 was able to allow on-site private daycares to open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to accommodate families needing care. The decision was made Monday morning after it was determined that only a few children had arrived at school and gyms and libraries weren't needed to look after them
Still, some students did show up to schools, about half of them high school students. According to Quinton, 26 high school students turned up Monday while three children showed up at elementary schools and 13 arrived at middle schools.
It's not known why they showed up, however, because administrators weren't asked to poll students as to why they were there, Quinton said.
Some B.C. districts had vowed to send students home or ask their parents to pick them up. But that wasn't the case in School District 43, which serves Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra. Instead, administrators gave kids things to do to keep them busy and the activities varied depending on the student's age, Quinton said.
At the same time, teachers set up protest lines across the district and a drive by Port Moody and Gleneagle secondary schools, Moody middle and elementary schools and Glen elementary found groups of teachers holding signs and waving to cars. In Port Coquitlam, a small group of teachers waved signs at passing drivers at the corner of Pitt River Road and the Mary Hill Bypass.
On Tuesday, some were expected to attend a rally at the legislature in Victoria but Grandinetti said only a few would likely go and the CTA wasn't organizing any buses.
BILL 22
Meanwhile, Bill 22 is winding its way through the legislature.
The bill, which rolls over the current contact, imposes a mediator for some non-wage issues, removes the cap on special needs students and district averages for class size for Grade 4 to 12, is being debated in the legislature this week. It is not expected to be passed for some days, by which time SD43 students and teachers could be off on spring break, which runs from March 10 to 25.
According to the province, Bill 22 imposes a cooling-off period and suspends the teachers' union strike action while calling on the assistance of a mediator. The legislation does not impose a new contract but extends the previous collective agreement to cover the mediation period.
The goal is to have an agreement by summer; if not, the mediator will issue a report by June 30 with non-binding recommendations. The mediator is not, however, allowed to consider wage and benefit increases beyond the province's net zero mandate while teachers are asking for a 15% salary increase.
According to the government, additional salaries for teachers would cost $2 billion but the teachers say the figure is more like $431 million.
Grandinetti said the teachers are upset Bill 22 is effectively legislating an end to negotiations.
"That's a big piece. It [also] doesn't resolve the issue around class size and composition. It removes what little protection there was around class size and composition. It takes away some of the rights teachers had previously and the money that's put into it, there doesn't seem to be any guarantees how the money will be used," she said, adding, "Bill 22 is not good for teachers but really it's not good for kids."
Grandinetti said unionized support workers, members of CUPE 561, were allowed to work because teachers were only protesting, not picketing, according to Labour Relations Board essential services rules.
Meanwhile, both sides are waging a public relations battle. This week the government sent out an information bulletin titled "BCTF Claims and Facts" and the BCTF countered with a rebuttal called "Get Your Facts Straight." The government document can be found through www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca while the teachers' response is at bctf.ca.
