Exams and summer school could be in jeopardy as teacher labour dispute escalates

VANCOUVER — With teachers set to begin rotating strikes next week, the province upped the ante in the ongoing labour dispute by threatening lockouts that would disrupt provincial exams, summer school and graduations.

In response to a letter by the BCPSEA threatening as much, B.C. Teachers Federation President Jim Iker said Thursday that Christy Clark’s government was taking an “unprecedented step” by directly threatening to impact students in the coming weeks.

The letter, sent to the BCTF Wednesday by the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association, said teachers would not be allowed to interact with students during lunch and recess, as well as ordering them to arrive to work no earlier than 45 minutes before school starts and leave no later than 45 minutes after it ends. Furthermore, BCPSEA would cut teacher pay by 10 per cent if they do in fact walk off the job next week. Secondary school lockouts would also take place on June 25 and 26 with a total lockout taking place on June 27 if teachers do not reach a deal by that point.

“We were careful to ensure that already scheduled extra-curricular and volunteer activities continued. We wanted to minimize the impact on students,” Iker said. “During rotating strikes, teachers would continue all volunteer activities four out of five days a week.”


Now, as a result of the coming lockout, Iker said students would be faced with no teacher support outside of classroom time, the potential for provincial exams to not be marked on time in June and teachers no longer being able to prepare for summer school.

“Christy Clark’s lockout will mean teachers would be insubordinate if they helped a struggling student or a child with special needs during the lunch hour,” Iker said. “For many teachers, this is valuable time when students can have that important one-on-one time to ask questions or share their learning.”


In response, Peter Cameron on behalf of BCPSEA, said the employers would not be impacting on the learning of students and noted that the marking of provincial exams could still be allowed.

Speaking to media following the BCTF’s conference, Cameron said the BCPSEA’s terms were “not inscribed in stone” and that teachers being allowed in to mark provincials was “perfectly doable.”

“This isn’t something we can’t fine tune and tweak,” he said.

Addressing concerns about teachers not being able to attend graduation celebrations or extracurricular activities, Cameron said teachers would be free to do whatever they’d like in their free time.

“We have no problem with teachers attending grad ceremonies. This lockout does not affect volunteer activities,” he said. “You can’t lock someone out for unpaid work.”

As for the reduction of teachers’ pay during the job action, Cameron acknowledged he was unaware of the move happening elsewhere during labour negotiations, but said it was tit for tat in terms of both sides putting pressure on the other.

“We’re putting measured corresponding pressure on the union to get a settlement before June,” he said. “The problem is teachers are refusing to do a number of things but insisting on receiving full pay. You don’t get to put pressure on employer by not doing things then say you deserve full pay.”

Teachers and the province will be sitting down at the bargaining table over the next four business days.