Straight Talk

Teachers upstage NDP love-in with demonstration outside Victoria Conference Centre

by Charlie Smith on November 23rd, 2019 at 11:05 PM
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      Protesting members of the B.C. Teachers' Federation have managed to steal the news agenda from the provincial NDP convention.

      Today, dozens of red-shirted education activists gathered outside the Victoria Conference Centre. And that ended up being the big story on provincial TV newscasts, upstaging the NDP love-in taking place inside the facility.

      NDP delegates were in Victoria to hear speeches from Premier John Horgan and federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

      But on the sidewalk along Douglas Street, teachers expressed frustration about the lack of progress in their contract talks.

      The BCTF and the B.C. Public School Employers' Association have been bargaining since February.

      Teachers rejected a mediator's recommendations for a three-year contract with annual wage increases of two percent and no change to the language around class size and composition.

      The BCTF says low wages in comparison to what's being paid to teachers in other provinces have contributed to a shortage of hundreds of educators.

      "B.C. has the second-lowest starting salary for teachers in the entire country and the lowest salary for experienced teachers west of Quebec," BCTF president Teri Mooring often says.

      Former BCTF president Glen Hansman tweeted today that a deal at the bargaining table is possible.

      But he added that this will occur if the B.C. government gives the employer more financial resources to meaningfully address recruitment, retention, and disparities in services between districts.

      Premier John Horgan, however, insisted that it's "good news" the two sides are still bargaining and he's hoping they'll reach an agreement. 

      "I talk to teachers all the time," Horgan told reporters. "My son is a teacher, albeit out of this jurisdiction. My daughter-in-law is a teacher in District 62. I've got a niece who's a teacher in the Cowichan Valley.

      "I hear directly from them at family gatherings how they feel. And I don't see why we wouldn't have people standing up—as British Columbians have a right to do—and exercise their opportunity to say 'this is how we feel about a particular government policy.' I'm not disappointed by that at all."

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