'Back to Work' for BC Teachers' Introduced (Bill 22)

Courtesy of the Government of BC:

Government introduced Bill 22 today, the Education Improvement Act, that suspends the teachers’ strike action and sets a “cooling off” period, appoints a mediator to facilitate bargaining, and implements a new $165-million Learning Improvement Fund and other enhancements to K-12 education. See the full bill here

Editor's Note - Rich Coleman (Government House Leader) this afternoon noted that it could take two (2) weeks to pass/adopt Bill 22

Bill 22 imposes a cooling off period and suspends the teachers’ union strike action while calling on the assistance of a mediator. The legislation does not impose a new contract. Rather, it extends the previous collective agreement to cover the mediation period, with the goal of reaching a negotiated agreement by the beginning of summer. If there is no agreement, then the mediator will issue a report by June 30, 2012 with non-binding recommendations.

The mediator will work to balance the interests of employers and employees and their mandate includes the ability to help find agreement on manner and consequences of class organization and the local-provincial split of bargaining issues. Their mandate also requires that any proposed solutions must not result in net new costs for school districts.

The Education Improvement Act also includes several initiatives that will benefit teachers, including the Learning Improvement Fund to help teachers meet complex needs in their classrooms and the restoration of class size and related matters to the scope of collective bargaining. The legislation streamlines and sets the stage for more effective consultations between teachers and administrators on class organization matters and mandates additional compensation for teachers where class size exceeds 30 students. Collectively, the improvements serve as the government’s response to last year’s B.C. Supreme Court decision on Bills 27 and 28.

Hon. George Abbott, BC's Minister of Education says –

“We’re putting more money into the classroom, we’re improving supports for students and teachers, we’re providing additional teacher compensation where class size exceeds the student limit, and we’re restoring the opportunity to bargain class size and related matters. Taken together, these are significant gains that recognize the important role and contribution of teachers.”

“We are not prepared to see a school year pass without every parent in B.C. getting a full accounting of how their children are progressing in school. We are particularly concerned about the impact on vulnerable students. Using legislation to resolve stalled negotiations is never the preferred option, but we need to end the disruptive strike that’s creating a strain in our schools and classrooms.”
“We are hopeful that a mediator can help the parties achieve a negotiated agreement, in keeping with the more than 100 agreements already achieved under the government’s bargaining mandate.”

“The employers are prepared to talk about how to improve benefits for teachers, how to ensure the right teachers are matched to the right jobs and how to support good teachers so they can become great teachers. We hope that mediation can also re-engage the parties in a discussion of how we can make a great education system even better.”

“We hope the teachers’ union will take a constructive approach and respect the cooling off period. However, if they choose a different path, the legislation includes stiff financial consequences for illegal strike action.” The fines are $475 for every teacher per day, $1.3 million for the BC Teachers' Federation per day and for the BCPSEA (BC Public Schools Employer Association) it will be $200,000 per day