Burnaby parents have nine days to figure out how their kids will spend the school day when local public school teachers hit the picket lines for a one-day strike next Thursday.
The walkout is part of four days of province-wide rotating strikes announced by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation Tuesday.
If the strikes go ahead, Burnaby Board of Education vice-chair Ron Burton predicts local CUPE employees will refuse to cross picket lines and schools won’t have enough staff to operate.
“The schools will be closed,” Burton told the NOW. “We’re asking parents to not bring the students to school that day.”
The escalated or stage-two job action comes on the heels of an announcement by the provincial government last week that it was backing off its demand for a10-year contract and would give teachers a signing bonus if a deal was reached before the end of the school year.
But that announcement was followed one day later by a B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) threat to cut teachers’ pay by five per cent for its limited job action last month if a deal wasn’t reached by summer.
“Last week, teachers were hopeful when they saw the government and BCPSEA put out an olive branch by backing off the unrealistic 10-year term,” said B.C. Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker at a press conference Tuesday.
“But the next day, hope that this government would start negotiating in good faith faded when the employer announced a series of threats around wage rollbacks, lockouts, and attempts to divide teachers, parents, and students.”
Iker said there won't be a deal until the government is prepared to put appropriate class-size limits, class-size composition guarantees and guaranteed staffing levels for specialist teachers into the contract.
Education Minister PeterFassbender, speaking at a press conference Tuesday, said he was “very disappointed” with the strike and maintained the five-per-cent rollback in teachers’ wages was not a threat.
If there is no movement at the provincial bargaining table, rotating strikes will begin Monday in 16 school districts, including Vancouver and New Westminster.
Burnaby teachers will stay on the job till Thursday.
The plan is for all districts to be back at work on Friday.
“Any extension of the rotating job action will depend on events at the bargaining table,” Iker said.
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