There won’t be any public school Tuesday, according to B.C. Education Minister Peter Fassbender, and now the NDP’s Rob Fleming is calling on the minister to step down.
After a summer with no negotiations — and a failed, frenetic, last-minute attempt to reach a settlement with B.C.’s teachers — Fleming said the time has come for change at the top.
“Instead of putting real effort toward reaching a deal to get our kids back in classrooms, Minister Fassbender has put his efforts toward deploying a cynical plan to spend tax dollars intended for the classroom to buy off parents with a cheque for $40-a-day while the impasse continues,” Fleming said Sunday, as mediator Vince Ready’s exit from talks spelled the end to a complete school year for the second year running.
“Minister Fassbender has badly misread the situation, and has only hurt the chances of resolving the dispute.
“Clearly he is not capable of overseeing B.C.’s education system.”
The B.C. Liberal government and the B.C. Teachers Federation have been at odds for a decade, with lengthy court cases, imposed settlements, and job action.
Fleming says the inability (again) to reach a settlement means the minister must go.
“The Minister has delayed and obstructed talks with teachers all summer,” said Fleming. “Either he should admit he is not up to the task and step down, or Premier Clark should remove him.”
Fassbender apologized Sunday for the summer of discontent, as a two-week strike in June will now carry on indefinitely into another school year.
Even Ready, a well-respected veteran mediator, couldn’t pull a last-minute rabbit out of his hat, leaving parents scrambling to find alternatives for young students.
“Needless to say. I’m very disappointed for students and parents and teachers that I’m standing here today addressing an issue that I hoped would have a different outcome than we face,” Fassbender said Sunday. “The reality is there is still over $300 million of gap between what the government has put on the table that is in keeping with the other public section unions [received in contract agreements] and what the BCTF is asking for.”
The cash-strapped B.C. government attempts to keep all public-sector wage hikes in line, for fear other unions will play catch-up if the government gives a larger wage hike to any one group such as teachers.
“We have been clear we are not going to put our fiscal plan in this province into deficit to meet the unrealistic demands of the BCTF,” said Fassbender. “If we were even to consider that, who should we take that money from?
“Health care? Other social services in the province?”
BCTF president Jim Iker said Premier Christy Clark should jump into the fray to salvage the school year.
“Over the weekend in talks with Vince Ready, the BCTF trimmed its package by $125 million,” said Iker in a statement. “By contrast the BC Public School Employers Association did not bring one penny to the table.”
So Iker is calling on the premier to do what the employers’ association couldn’t do — get a settlement.
“The BCPSEA didn’t get the job done this weekend,” he said. “They weren’t prepared or authorized to make the moves necessary to get the deal done.
“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.”
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