[LabComm] BCTF wins at BC Supreme

[nknickerbocker]

NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release                                   January 22, 2004
Arbitrator's ruling quashed:
Teachers' contract should not have been gutted, court rules

B.C. teachers welcomed a B.C. Supreme Court decision today that quashes an 
arbitrator's determination to delete from the their collective agreement 
many important provisions. Neil Worboys, president of the B.C. Teachers' 
Federation said the ruling is excellent news for students and parents, as 
well as teachers.

"As a result of the stripping of our collective agreement, we lost 
provisions that protected limits on class sizes, and that guaranteed 
support for students with special needs," Worboys explained. "Over the last 
two years, students around B.C. have been in some of the largest classes in 
decades, even as resources and staffing support has been cut."

In January 2002, the B.C. Liberals passed Bill 28, the Public Education 
Flexibility and Choice Act, which was designed to eliminate many provisions 
from the collective agreement between the BCTF and the B.C. Public School 
Employers' Association. Today's ruling found that the arbitrator cut far 
more from the collective agreement than the law allowed.

"In light of the fundamental nature of the errors of law, the determination 
of the arbitrator must be quashed," Justice D.W. Shaw concluded.

"We are elated that the Supreme Court has affirmed what we've said all 
along," Worboys said. "This ruling shows that, once again, the B.C. 
Liberals have gone too far in their unwarranted attack on teachers, on our 
union, and on contractual guarantees of quality education for students. The 
act in question was clearly written to facilitate the government's 
underfunding and erosion of services to students, and we are delighted that 
its implementation has been overturned."

Worboys said that B.C. teachers have a long history of negotiating 
provisions to enhance working conditions for teachers, which also enhance 
learning conditions for students.

"Students and parents are aware of the consequences of removing protections 
for class size limits and support for students with special needs from the 
collective agreement," Worboys said. "Without them in contract, it's much 
more difficult to uphold the high standards we want for every classroom."

He added that the BCTF will be analyzing the judgment in greater detail 
before deciding on a course of action, but that teachers will be energetic 
in reasserting the working and learning conditions that were stripped from 
the collective agreement.

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For more information, please call Nancy Knickerbocker, BCTF media relations 
officer, at 604-871-1881 (office) or 604-250-6775 (cell).

****************

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great 
moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." Dante, 1265-1321

Nancy Knickerbocker
BCTF media relations officer
Office: 604-871-1881
Cell:   604-250-6775
Toll free: 1-800-663-9163