Will public opinion rescue B.C.’s teachers?

TUESDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The ebb and flow of contract bargaining remains a mystery to all who aren’t in the room, as does the fickleness of public support for one side or the other.

Just as it appeared B.C.’s teachers might be losing their edge in public sympathy, due to their apparent obstinance in forging ahead with an all-out strike, they got it back after the events of this past weekend.

Jim Iker, president of the B.C. Teachers Federation, provided more information during a morning media conference about the teachers’ bargaining position than has been available for several weeks.

More importantly, he revealed a sense of the dynamics of the grueling weekend bargaining run between the BCTF and the B.C. Public School Employers Association, saying the teachers had tabled a brand new compromise position Friday, then waited for two days while the government’s negotiators sat on their hands.

Not until Sunday evening, said Iker, did the BCPSEA respond. When it did, it was to reduce a previous salary offer and propose an out clause whereby either side could cancel the new contract within 60 days of a B.C. Supreme Court ruling on an appeal by the government of an earlier decision that supported the teachers on class sizes and conditions.

Both sides of any contract provide their own spin to proceedings, always to the betterment of their own image. The government side took the high road early in the day, and by doing so gave the BCTF the advantage. Only after Iker tore a strip off the government’s negotiating tactics did the BCPSEA give its side of the story, saying Iker misrepresented the weekend talks.

A myriad of demands from the teachers on benefits details is driving up the cost of the total package and blocking a settlement, said the employer.

By then, though, the BCTF had planted the seed of suspicion that the government is trying to save money by keeping teachers on the picket lines. Or is it a fear of what the courts will rule on the government’s appeal?

Premier Christy Clark may have to get involved to sort things out but, for the moment, the cavalry of public opinion appears to be riding to the teachers’  rescue.