August 26, 2005

School Strikes

"Parents brace for school strike" is typical of the misleading headlines that have more to do with manipulating public opinion than reporting the news. BC's teachers certainly aren't rushing to close the schools. Contrary to reports immediately prior to the May 17th election, the teachers didn't rush to conduct a strike vote within days of the election. The announcement that a strike vote would be taken on September 20th - 22nd was made a full month before the vote.

On September 23rd the British Columbia Teachers' Federation will probably announce that 80% or more of its members who voted decided in favour of job action. What that job action looks like will be determined by the Labour Relations Board; that is what "essential services" means. In the case of the nurses, their last strike consisted of nothing other than refusing overtime, but that was enough to prompt the Campbell government to interfere with the process and impose a contract. The teachers are likely to start their "strike" with little more than withdrawing volunteer time and perhaps refusing to supervise lunch breaks. Long before the Labour Relations Board is asked to rule on whether it is acceptable to close all schools one day per week, as some school boards are doing in order to save money, the government will intervene and either impose a contract or impose an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. Either alternative could result in a day of protest that shuts the entire system down until an LRB order is filed with the courts. A longer lasting protest in the form of fewer volunteer hours could follow, although many teachers would find it difficult to give up sponsoring clubs and extracurricular activities.

The big question is not when the school system will shut down but rather when legislation will be introduced and what it will look like. The Wright report proposed the alternative of binding final-offer arbitration. While that alternative has been opposed by the BCTF, the government has been strangely silent. It is suspected that government doesn't want to commit itself to binding arbitration unless it can limit the parameters and impose the arbitrator. The larger opposition's power is limited to its ability to reason with both sides and influence public opinion; the government simply needs to be patient and wait for the public to overwhelming demand an end to job action. Count on government supporters to help rally that demand starting with the kind of coverage that you see between the back to school ads.