The top court announced Thursday it would hear the teachers’ appeal of a lower-court decision, which said provincial legislation that took away certain bargaining powers did not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Advertisement
The BC Government stripped language around class size and composition from the teachers’ contract in 2002, leading to a series of court decisions and subsequent appeals.
“The issue dates back to legislation brought in by the Gordon Campbell Liberals in 2002 and has been a source of tension between the BC Teachers Federation and the government ever since”.
The dispute led to an acrimonious strike that cut the school year short in the spring of 2014 and was not resolved until September of that year.
The basic question here centres on to what extent can teachers freely negotiate these types of working conditions into their contracts and whether governments have the ability to opt out of contracts when it becomes politically expedient. “Enrolment is starting to increase after years of decline and we know that there are more students with special needs, refugee students and others with unique needs entering the system”.
“Regardless of the court challenge, we are working collaboratively with the BCTF to implement the new curriculum and ensure teachers are trained to deliver its benefits to students”. He said the government’s relationship with teachers has never been better.
“B.C. students rank first amongst all English speaking countries in reading, science and math in global testing”. He said it was a part of the democratic process and the province is confident in its legal position.
No matter what the outcome, we’re glad to see this appeal will be heard at the highest level. But the case is expected to have significant implications for the way governments negotiate with unions.
“The degree to which they’re protected by the constitution determines the degree to which governments have the authority to restrict those rights”.
The province was ordered by the B.C. Supreme Court to pay the federation $2 million in damages and retroactively restored the deleted clauses, but the province immediately appealed.
Advertisement
Hearings at the court last only a few hours and sometimes a decision is given immediately.
