Imposed teachers' deal a badge of failure

VICTORIA - It wasn't much of a surprise when Labour Minister Mike de Jong stood up in the legislature Monday and launched a pre-emptive strike on teachers.
No chance of a settlement in the dispute between the BC Teachers' Federation and the BC School Employers' Association, said de Jong.
So rather than wait for the job action to escalate, the Liberals introduced legislation to impose a new contact, making a strike illegal. (Like most unions, teachers are barred from job action when there is a contract in place, even an imposed one.)
It was, given the situation, the only real option. Deputy labour minister Rick Connolly had just reported that "there is no prospect for a voluntary resolution at the bargaining table."
The failure was "predictable," said de Jong, explaining the decision in his office. "The history of these two parties is that they have never in the past 10 or 15 years been able to negotiate an agreement."
The comment highlights a Liberal failure.
The deadlock was predictable. The parties haven't reached a negotiated deal since bargaining under the current structure began in 1993. The possibility of settlement became more remote in 2002, when the Liberals passed legislation to strip the teachers' contract of critical provisions, including class size limits and guaranteed number of support teachers.
Which means that the government could have seen this problem two years ago - or last year, when their own review identified the problems - and moved to address it.
De Jong took that step now.
The legislation extends the teachers' current contract for a two-year term, with no changes and no wage increase. The contract expired in 2004. Now it's extended to next June.
De Jong said that by the end of the week he will have appointed an industrial inquiry commissioner to recommend a better way of reaching contracts with teachers. The commissioner will report in time to allow a new system to be in place before talks start next year.
BCTF president Jinny Sims wasn't pleased. Sims said she had been fighting tears as she watched the pronouncement from inside the legislature. Teachers would decide quickly on their next step, she said.
None of the parties emerge from this looking good.
The negotiations were always certain to have problems. The union wanted a significant raise; the government told the employers' association that teachers, like other public servants, would have to take a two-year freeze.
And teachers wanted to negotiate issues like class size, and support for special needs students. The government said no chance.
It was a tough spot for teachers. There was very little to negotiate, and the employers' association knew that all it had to do was wait, and the government would impose a contract on its terms.
But negotiating isn't about justice and righting wrongs. It's about getting the best deal possible under the circumstances. The BCTF never accepted that reality.
The government never accepted what de Jong now says is so evident - that the bargaining system doesn't work. Commissioner Don Wright identified the problem in a report to the government last year, and offered a solution. If talks didn't work, a third party would conciliate. If that failed, union and employers would submit their best offers and the conciliator would pick one to form the new collective agreement. Issues like class size, while not part of the contract, needed to be discussed with the union in a separate process, Wright said. (Connolly made the same finding.)
But faced with a predictable, foreseeable problem, the government didn't act.
It's tough to measure the consequences. It should be a concern when teachers are denied the right to negotiate working conditions that is enjoyed by others under our system.
And it's bad for the quality of education if large number of teachers feel abused and unheard.
It may have been impossible to avoid this outcome. It would have been nice if all concerned had tried harder.
Footnote: De Jong's choice of inquiry commissioner, and the amount of freedom offered by the terms of reference, will be critical in at least establishing the chance of success. A broad mandate will will be needed to convince teachers the exercise is serious.