METRO VANCOUVER - Two weeks after leaked documents suggested the province had tried to provoke teachers into striking in 2012, the B.C. Teachers' Federation announced it would hold a strike vote in March.
BCTF president Jim Iker made the announcement Tuesday morning after explaining how unsuccessful the latest rounds of bargaining had been.
"Bargaining is about moving forward not backwards, with new players at the table, there was hope we could move on from the last round of bargaining. That hope has turned into frustrations for months now - behind closed doors, the government has been unreasonable, unfair and provocative," said Iker.
Iker went on to accuse the government of being determined to drive the province's school system into chaos to serve their own political needs and ignoring the most recent
ruling that found the B.C. government had broken the law when then-Education Minister Christy Clark stripped bargaining rights in 2002.
As such, Iker said a strike vote will be held on March 4 and 5 and if the majority votes in favour, some sort of action is to be taken within 90 days of said vote.
Iker noted that action would not affect report cards, school closures or lessening of extracurricular activities at this time.
Many of the concerns stem from the province's desire to secure a 10-year labour agreement, which the BCTF has been strongly opposed to.
Education Minister and Surrey-Fleetwood MLA Peter Fassbender said he was disappointed by the BCTF's announcement.
"I have constantly said our goal as government is to stay at the table, to find a negotiated settlement, to resolve the issues at the table, so for me this is very provocative so far as our process in bargaining goes," Fassbender said.
-With a file from Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun