Leaked BCTF memo details potential path towards province-wide teachers' strike
Credit to Author: Harrison Mooney| Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2020 02:49:29 +0000
A confidential B.C. Teachers’ Federation memo outlines the potential path toward a provincewide teachers’ strike in the coming months.
The leaked memo lays out a proposed four-stage plan that would escalate gradually to a full-scale strike if mediated contract negotiations remain stalled.
The BCTF confirmed the memo’s existence Thursday but dismissed it as little more than a contingency plan, saying there is no approved plan for any job action at this point and that the focus remains on securing more dates for the continuing mediation.
The memo was not intended for public viewing, or even for B.C.’s teachers, who reportedly received a separate, less incendiary confidential notice Thursday that discussed next steps but did not mention strike plans. This document was intended solely for the BCTF Representative Assembly, which is scheduled to convene next weekend to discuss next steps, and can still be amended or outright defeated.
In a statement tweeted in advance of the breaking news story, the BCTF reaffirmed its commitment to the Labour Relations Board mediation process, saying “there can be no strike vote, job action, or lockout by the employer while that process continues.”
“It has been a year of bargaining and of course we are talking to members about contingency plans IF mediation concludes without a good deal.”
But the memo may be a glimpse into what may lay ahead for B.C.’s schools if mediator David Schaub withdraws from the dispute.
Stage 1 of the plan is business as usual, with teachers making their voices heard on social media, distributing material, and writing to local representatives about the need for the province to budge from its two per cent a year wage increase mandate.
Stage 2 of the plan would follow a strike vote in mid-February, and if members vote in favour, teachers would limit their work to school hours, and withdraw from after-hours supervision and other extracurriculars, such as parent-teacher conferences.
If this fails to move negotiations forward, BCTF members would vote on Stage 3, in which 20 per cent of teachers in each school district begin rotating walkouts.
Stage 4, following another strike vote, would be a full-scale, B.C.-wide strike.
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