To say I've learned a lot in our almost year here is an understatement. The current lesson has been mindblowing - labor unions, government and my kids. Here's the thing - today is Thursday, but functionally, it's our Friday because for the second day in the past two weeks our district's schools are closed for rotating strikes by the teachers. I don't have completely informed opinions about this whole mess, but I do have opinions. Information is hard to wade through and not readily available in some instances, so I'm sticking with observations of the process. I'm a process person and have been utterly fascinated by this particular process as it's so new to me.
Caveats:
*I am NOT a labor attorney, nor do I have any formal training in labor negotiations (translation: I don't get all that's going on from a legal or technical point of view)
*I am a child of an educator and an educator myself and I deeply value public education and those who are committed to helping my children grow in public schools
*Unions are new to me.
*I have a singular perspective as I've been through this in one school for the first time living in a country not of my birth.
Now that I *hope* I've explained my relative ignorance to this whole process because of its newness to me and our newness to this place, here we go. Strikes are a funny thing - they're polarizing with the hope of effectiveness and they're reported through the eyes of media and messages are passed through representatives - so I've learned that it's hard to find the actual nuts and bolts of decisions and their implications. Here's what I think I understand:
-Teachers in British Columbia are part of the BC Teacher Federation - the teachers' labor union.
-The government negotiates with the BCTF through the BC Public School Employer's Association.
-Currently, the main sticking points are: teacher compensation, contract term (length), class size and class composition (meaning how many special needs young people may be mainstreamed into each class).
-The BCTF started by asking for a 15.9% pay increase over 4 years (plus cost of living adjustments).
-The BCPSEA countered by offering a 6.5% increase over 6 years (plus cost of living adjustments).
-There are requests from the BCTF on classroom size caps + caps on the number of special needs children in each classroom - I've had a hard time finding firm numbers on that though, so I just raise the point.
-Apparently, there was a strike a couple of years ago which was technically illegal because the government had said teachers didn't have the right to mobilize and strike. The BC Supreme Court recently ruled that teachers do have that right and here we are.
-Job Action began in April with teachers discontinuing duties that fall outside of those for which they are actually contracted including no longer attending meetings called by administration. That was considered Phase One. It ramped up 2 weeks ago to Phase Two - rotating strikes. This meant that for one day each week every school in British Columbia would close. Now we're bumping up against a vote next Monday/Tuesday by which the teachers will decide whether to escalate the job action to a full strike; translation: in theory, beginning June 16, teachers could walk out and school would be cancelled until there was an agreement between union officials and the government. The last day of school is supposed to be June 26.
-A government 'lock out' of teachers was imposed - teachers were told they were not allowed to work during certain parts of the day and there was a subsequent reduction in their salaries by 10% [as of May 26] to cover for the lost work time. This led to the union telling teachers they needed to leave campus during those times for insurance sake.
Here's the fall out I've observed:
-Cancellation of year end field trips for Grade 6 & 7 classes and the ruling of no field trips for anyone after a certain date unless the trips were pre-planned and fell within the guidelines of permissible trips. And let me tell you - when a Grade 7 student who's waited for their 5-day trip to camp since they started at our school gets told it's cancelled, it's really sad and they're really disappointed.
-Confusion on the part of parents and students. Teachers aren't supposed to talk with kids about the strike, but are able to talk to parents, I think. I've had some enlightening conversations with a couple of teachers, anyway.
-Angst among parents who have to scramble for childcare when days off of school pop up and some childcare programs are closed when school is out due to strike for their own reasons (which I don't know so I'm not hypothesizing). I'm grateful that we're in a position where I'm at home with our kids, though.
-Potential that end of grade report cards won't be written because teachers may only work 45 minutes prior to and 45 minutes after the school day's end and must leave campus during recess and lunch.
Who *I think* gets the shaft:
The kids.
And I'd also say the parents. While I've found this entire dance fascinating, it also makes me really, really sad. My children will potentially miss quite a chunk of their school year because the big people have their heels dug in so deeply that they've essentially picked up all their toys, stormed off the playground and are huddled up in their own camps congratulating themselves on how right they are and how wrong the other side is. That's sad. And it's crappy modeling, really, when we are trying to teach our children about healthy conflict resolution. While I may be really oversimplifying, it seems that the time has come for a good ole family meeting - where someone...even if it's just ONE person...from each side is willing to stick out their neck and say, "Let's come to the table. Let's figure it out. Let's both be willing to bend a little." And maybe that's on the horizon - I don't know. What I do know is this: we'll be out of school another day next week, tension will continue to be the norm among teachers at school, and there's the potential that next Friday will be our last day of school. I'll continue to watch this unfold and be fascinated by it and I'll pull out the workbooks I bought at Costco and checkout the Kahn Academy to be sure my kids are ready for the fall [assuming all this gets sorted over the summer before school starts back]. And I'll try with all my might to explain this whole mess to my kids so their faith in grown ups isn't marred - all the while hoping for an amiable end to the situation. It's interesting stuff, friends, and I find that I'm still a student myself.
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