Grade 8 students at Gordon Head Middle school in Victoria, January 12, 2011.Arnold Lim/The Globe and Mail
British Columbia's public-school teachers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
B.C. Teachers' Federation president Susan Lambert said Wednesday that 90 per cent of teachers have sent a strong message to the government after nearly four months of bargaining has failed to give them a new contract.
"I think that 90 per cent is a product of an increasing level of frustration and determination by teachers," Ms. Lambert said.
However, parents will not notice much change as classes resume in September if there's no agreement by then, she said. Teachers will refuse to do administrative tasks such as filling out forms, supervising and attending staff meetings.
"We're not going to do formal report cards but we will maintain close communication with parents," Ms. Lambert said.
The Liberal government is offering no general wage increase in keeping with the same mandate for all public service employees.
Ms. Lambert said on top of that, the province's bargaining agent made demands last week for major concessions on issues such as hiring, evaluation and dismissal.
"They want to be able to place people according to suitability rather than seniority, they want to be able to transfer people on a month's notice for no reason, they want to be able to post positions without any regards to seniority," she said.
"Employee rights to seniority are fundamental to a civilized society," she said, saying such criteria don't allow for bias or favouritism.
The concessions mean a teacher could be fired after a single evaluation rather than the current practice of identifying issues and attempting to deal with them and then re-evaluating the teacher, Ms. Lambert said.
Education Minister George Abbott has said his ministry can't budge from its requirement of a net zero wage mandate. However, he believes job action is not inevitable, as long as both sides remain at the bargaining table.
Issues include class size, wages and adequate school funding.