School’s out for summer, but picketing teachers are still having an effect around the province.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s approximately 41,000 members began full-scale strike action June 17 after three weeks of rotating walkouts. Even though the 2013-14 school year has ended, the strike continues, forcing cancellation of summer school in the Greater Victoria school district as well as in a number of other B.C. districts.
In the Sooke school district, pickets have kept up a strong summer presence, said Sooke Teachers’ Association vice-president Paul Waterlander.
Summer pickets are active in two sites in the Greater Victoria school district, including the former Uplands Elementary School where an international student program is headquartered, while Saanich district teachers have not been on picket lines.
“It doesn’t mean that we might not,” said Saanich Teachers’ Association president Mark Skanks. “It depends on what will go on in the rest of the summer.”
Waterlander said his members want to see action at the bargaining table.
“The clock’s ticking and we’re all looking at September and wondering, ‘Are we going to have a normal year?’ ” he said. “We are determined to get a contract before September starts, and our local in Sooke decided that the best way to do that would be to put pressure on our employer.
“The way we’re doing that is we’re picketing out every morning, since summer began.”
The decision on whether or not to picket is made at the local level. Canadian Union of Public Employees members, who perform maintenance and other duties, will not cross the picket lines.
“We have a crew of dedicated teachers that are donating their time to picket the schools out, which means CUPE cannot come in to get their work done,” Waterlander said.
That includes building and field maintenance, which affects playing conditions for sports groups. The pickets have been active at several sites, Waterlander said, including the district office on Jacklin Road, where the facilities yard and a great deal of equipment is located.
“If we can effectively block that driveway, then we’re keeping out CUPE, who do get paid.”
Picket crews, which start as early as 5:30 a.m., have been at several schools and will be starting at Sooke’s Edward Milne Community School, since it is set to host international students. Waterlander said the aim is to keep the program from happening at a school district site.
The pickets have certainly caused disruption, said Dave Betts, assistant superintendent for the Sooke district.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” he said. “It’s stopped us from doing any of the normal, routine maintenance that we would do over the course of the summer.
“We often do things like resurface gyms’ floors. We have to clean the schools at the end of the June, so that didn’t happen.”
Larger efforts have also been on hold, like moving portable classrooms as part of the relocation of Pacific Secondary, an alternative school.
However, work on the district’s two new high schools is proceeding.
While no talks between the BCTF and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association are on the horizon, Betts is hopeful that will change in August.
“At this time, the lines remain open, but no talks have been scheduled,” said a Ministry of Education spokesman.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher was approached in late June as a potential mediator in contract talks. BCTF president Jim Iker said Kelleher had time available for the task in August.
