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ALetterfromtheteachersofSouthKelownaElementarySchoolJune 3,
2014
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As teachers, we want whats best for our students; thats why we
teach. Although we
have been seeking a raise at the bargaining table, another one
of our primary goals (formany of us, it is theprimary goal) is to
have class size and composition guarantees in
our collective agreement with our employer. Unfortunately, B.C.s
government, and our
employer, have actively and strongly resisted the attempts of
teachers to have this goal
achieved in bargaining (and have appealed the clear decision of
the B.C. Supreme
Court recognizing that the governments legislation stripping
these guarantees from our
contracts was illegal and unconstitutional; it is important to
note that the Justice hearing
the evidence in that case found that the government was guilty
of bargaining in bad
faith).
As a result, a few weeks ago, we teachers reluctantly decided to
engage in limited jobaction by withdrawing some services from our
employer, in an attempt to pressure our
employer to bargain in good faith and to pressure the government
to fully fund an
education system that meets the needs of the students that we
teach and care about
deeply. With the interests of those students in mind, we made
sure that our limited job
action didnt impact students. Unfortunately, bargaining hasnt
gone well, and the BCTF
decided to escalate our job action to include rotating strikes,
in addition to the
previously-withdrawn services. At this point, our employer
decided to implement a
limited lock out of teachers, with the stated intention of
justifying their bid to dock our
pay. The essence of this highly-unusual move on the part of the
B.C. Public School
Employers Association (BCPSEA) was to send an official letter to
the President of theBCTF directing teachers not to:
work during recess or lunch,
attend school prior to 45 minutes before class starts or remain
at school later
than 45 minutes after it ends, and
attend meetings of almost any kind (ranging from collaborative
meetings to
class composition meetings).
The official letter of direction (from the employer of all
public school teachers) also said
that teachers were not to substitute other work in place of any
and all of the above-identified duties, regardless of where or when
these substitute tasks are performed.
(This letter is on-line, on BCPSEAs website, www.bcpsea.bc.ca,
specifically at
http://www.bcpsea.bc.ca/documents/teacher%20bargaining/Bargaining%20Bulletin/00-
MM-Letter%20to%20BCTF%20Jim%20Iker%20May%2021,%202014.pdf.)
Unfortunately, and to our dismay, this prevents us from being
able to do many of the
things that benefit our students (things that we had been
continuing to do during the first
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ALetterfromtheteachersofSouthKelownaElementarySchoolstage of our
job action). For instance, field trips that extend over the lunch
hour are
impossible for us to continue with, since they involve
supervising students at lunch time
(something we are normally happy to do, despite the fact that we
normally enjoy
supervision-free lunch hours, so that students can benefit from
the learning
opportunities that field trips provide), and our employer has
directed us not to work
during lunch.
Since the delivery of this official letter of direction, the
honourable Minister of Education
and the Ministry of Education have made statements in the media
and distributed
unofficial documents that claim teachers are able to do things
that we have been
officially directed not to do (and docked pay in relation to),
and many of these
statements and documents imply that teachers are choosing not to
do the things that we
have been directed not to do (ironically, one of these documents
accused the BCTF of
mischaracterizing things). One of these documents was recently
distributed to parents,
with the seemingly impartial and objective title Information for
parents during BCTF
strike action. We want parents to know that this document does
not represent our
perspective; nor does it accurately represent the contents of
the letter of direction that
binds us during the period that we are partially locked out of
our jobs. Our position, and
that of the BCTF, is that we have been instructed by our
employer not to do very
specific things, and our pay has been unilaterally reduced to
reflect that reduction of our
workload. Even if we wanted to do those things, we have been
officially directed not to
do them. (In contrast to the letter recently distributed to many
parents around the
province, you can see a truly balanced document, written by the
Vancouver School
Boards Superintendent of Schools, at
http://www.vsb.bc.ca/sites/default/files/publications/Parent%20letter%2026052014.pdf).
We are hopeful that the current dispute between us and our
employer will be resolved
soon, but in the meantime, while our employers lockout is in
effect, there are many
things that we do not have a choice about, and this is deeply
distressing to us.
Moreover, we are saddened by the implications for students, in
terms of cancelled field
trips and other similar matters.
We ask for your understanding and support as we advocate - in
the face of determined
opposition - for a fully-funded education system that meets the
needs of all students. If
you would like more information about our goals for such a
system, please consider
visiting http://afairdeal.ca/.
Yours sincerely,
The teachers of South Kelowna Elementary School
