Teachers ‘taking a stand,’ 400 told at pep rally

By MIKE YOUDS

On the eve of what would have been the last day of school and with no hint of a settlement after three weeks of staring down the provincial government, striking teachers received a pep talk at Riverside Park on Wednesday.

About 400 people, including teachers from various districts, fellow unionists and members of the general public gathered at the Rotary Bandshell, hearing words of encouragement from labour leaders, colleagues and one graduating South Kamloops student.

Robert Wisla was introduced as a student whose 12 years in the system were affected by the stripping of class size and composition from the BCTF collective agreement. He said his special-needs cousin was moved to a Calgary private school because of insufficient classroom supports in B.C.

“And that’s not right,” he said. “Basically we need a government that pays the bills …”

“We are taking a stand against a government that has twice ignored court rulings that stripping class size and composition from the collective agreement was wrong and illegal,” said Jason Karpuk, president of the KTTA.

“What we are asking for is a fair deal for teachers and better support for kids.”

The purpose of the rally, along with a series of others held around the province, was to demonstrate public support for teachers, he said.

CUPE 3500 president John Hall, whose 700 members have honoured picket lines, pledged continued support.

Tom Friedman, representing 700 TRU educators, said they could do no less than stand behind the teachers. They made a donation to the KTTA hardship fund and challenged other unions to do the same.

Marty Gibbons, president of Steelworkers Local 1-417, added $5,000 from his union. Gibbons said he went through school with a learning disability and could not have succeeded without learning assistance and dedicated teachers.

“It’s good to see labour have a backbone in this province again,” he added. “We’re so proud to stand with you.”

“This is a government that didn’t need to be reminded how off-track they were,” said NDP education critic Rob Fleming. “They had the Supreme Court do that twice.” While the province says it doesn’t have the funds to meet teachers’ demands, it found money to pay for ads attacking the teachers, Fleming said.

Lori Nelson, a NorKam teacher with 32 years of experience in the district, cited a letter from MLA Todd Stone in which he said the government’s fight is with the BCTF, not with teachers.

“Mr. Stone, teachers are the BCTF,” Nelson said to applause.

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair was characteristically blunt in his assessment, referring to the education minister as “Mr. Fact-bender” and drawing on schoolyard analogies.

“They didn’t steal a bunch of money from the collective agreement,” Sinclair said. “They didn’t steal a bunch of money out of the kitty. What they stole was the right of kids to get a decent education and the right of teachers to get a decent wage.”

Karpuk said beforehand that he was glad that the two parties were back bargaining on Wednesday for the first time in almost a week.

“I think it’s a good thing. I think we need to be at the table and we need to be there consistently. We need a deal before we get into summer,” he said, adding that students and parents deserve to know that school will return to normal in September.

He felt Wednesday’s BCTF position — picketing summer school unless a deal is reached by month’s end — was a necessary tactic.

“Put the pressure on and hopefully we see a deal done and summer school can go ahead.”

Chris Anton said he attended the rally as a citizen supporting the teachers. He faults a lack of leadership in the way government deals with education.

“When things get down to the breaking point, you need to have some experience in good government to address these issues. Class size and composition, I think they’re the major part of the issue. The reality is, eight per cent over five years is still less than the rate of inflation.”