Dear Editor:
As the picket signs come down and kids are welcomed back to school, B.C. teachers can hold their heads very high.
Money-wise, teachers' gains are modest. They did get a few nice things, but not a lot, and after inflation, yes they even slipped a bit more.
However, the big news is they stopped the erosion of public education, and they began the long rebuilding.
A first step is the promised $400 million for class improvements. But this pales beside their big win: defeating clause E80. This clause, for those who don't know, would have allowed the government to work around a BCTF win in the upcoming court case.
Now, assuming the appeal goes the teachers' way (which I'm told is likely), all the 2001 agreements will be back in place! Granted, the government can still try to negotiate them away again, but they will be in a position of weakness.
They can't just sweep them all away with legislation as they tried before. They have to argue each clause on it's merits. This scenario is what Christy Clark so desperately wanted to avoid, and despite her beaming expression, this is what she is now facing.
So to sum up, the teachers have sacrificed monetary gain, but they may just have stopped the Liberals' undermining of public education. Thank you, teachers, and many congratulations!
Pat Truelove, by email
