BC Teachers and NDP Fed Up with the Minister of Education, Asking Premier Christy Clark to Step In

With B.C. public schools closed on Tuesday, both the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) and the NDP are tiring of Minister of Education Peter Fassbender's tactics.

After frustrated negotiations, the BCTF is calling on Premier Christy Clark to step in and meet with their president, Jim Iker. According to their press release, the BCTF cut $125 million off their proposed package while the government “did not bring one penny to the table” for student support and teacher wages. The teachers are also disgruntled about the government's demand of a court case escape clause, which they claim would disregard the two wins they've gained for class size and composition in the BC Supreme Court, as well as any future wins in their favour.

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"The BCPSEA didn't get the job done this weekend. They weren't prepared or authorized to make the moves necessary to get the deal done," Iker said. "Now it's up to the Premier to step in and help get this deal done so that kids and teachers can get back to class."

In a news conference on Sunday, Jim Iker claimed that the government was more occupied with “their $40 a day scheme”, the program the B.C. Government has created to help parents pay for childcare during the strike, than with trying to reach a fair deal in time for school to start. He also repeated the BCTF's claim that the previous school year had the worst class composition record yet, with over 16,000 classrooms with 4 or more special needs students.

The BCTF says that they are ready to continue negotiating whenever the government is and they ask Christy Clark to come to the table.

Meanwhile, Rob Fleming, an NDP education spokesperson, has asked Peter Fassbender to step down as B.C. Education Minister. Fleming claims that the minister “has utterly failed kids and families in B.C. Either he should admit he is not up to the task and step down, or Premier Clark should remove him.”

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According to Fleming, Fassbender's lead negotiator has admitted that their team has refused to negotiate about class size and composition until the BCTF gives in on the issue of wages and benefits. Like the BCTF, Fleming says Fassbender's efforts have been towards the program for paying parents, which he calls “a cynical plan to spend tax dollars intended for the classroom to buy off parents”.

Minister Fassbender, however, continues to say that he wanted the court issues settled by court so that the two sides can focus on other issues. He calls it “disappointing” that the B.C. teachers are not voting on whether to go back to work and claims that the BCTF has not been trying to reach a fair deal. Rather, he says they are attempting to be pressure the government into legislating them back to work and “would prefer to keep kids on this broken treadmill we've been on for 30 years.”

Premier Christy Clark has not yet made a comment on whether she will answer the BCTF's request to join negotiations, though she has tweeted about the current stall.