B.C.'s teachers may have voted in favour of job action, but Burnaby classrooms shouldn't be closing anytime soon.
In a provincewide B.C. Teachers' Federation vote held late last week, nearly 90 per cent voted in favour of job action, but the president of the Burnaby Teachers' Association says the vote will be used to pressure the provincial government.
"The vote supports our bargaining team and puts pressure on the government to drop a number of concessions they've put on the table," said association president James Sanyshyn. "Hopefully, now that can start happening."
The BCTF and the provincial government are in the midst of legal wranglings while bargaining over a new collective agreement. A recent court case found the province had unconstitutionally violated teachers' bargaining rights, but the province has appealed.
Class size and composition (meaning the number of special needs students in each class) have been sticking points in the ongoing dispute.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender recently circulated a strike strategy document he said was leaked to the government from a union member, but the BCTF has denied authorship.
According to the BCTF, if and when there is job action, it will not include closing schools, withdrawal from extra curricular activities or affecting report cards and communication with parents - at least not initially.
