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Striking teachers offered $8 million in interest-free loans from fellow B.C. unions
By Cassidy Olivier, Postmedia NewsSeptember 11, 2014 6:32
Some of B.C.’s largest unions opened their wallets Wednesday in support of the province’s striking public school teachers, committing an estimated $8 million in interest-free loans to the cash-strapped B.C. Teachers Federation.
The financial commitments came on the same day that teachers voted overwhelmingly in favour of a union proposal to end the strike if the government committed to binding arbitration — an avenue the province has already said it’s not willing to pursue.
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, said at a news conference held in front of a shuttered Vancouver secondary school that the cash will go to help support teachers, who haven’t been paid in months.
The money, raised through contributions from eight public and private unions, will be pooled into a hardship fund administered by the BCTF. Teachers in dire financial straits will be able to apply for small loans and grants.
“We are proud to be able to do it, and we are proud to walk the picket line, and again we say, ‘It is not going to be money that’s going to end this dispute,’ ” Sinclair said.
“No one will be starved out here. It will be Christy Clark who must end this dispute.”
Also on Wednesday, the B.C. Nurses’ Union, which is not affiliated with the B.C. Federation of Labour, donated $500,000 to the BCTF’s hardship fund. And earlier this week, the union for BC Hydro workers set aside $100,000 for the province’s teachers.
“With this funding, nurses are standing in solidarity with teachers,” said Nurses’ Union president Gayle Duteil. “We know some teachers are struggling to pay their bills and feed their children. I and the BCNU executives believe this is the right thing to do.”
It is frequently the case that when a union runs short in a labour dispute, others step forward to help, said Mark Thompson, a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.
Thompson said the Nurses’ Union may stand to benefit should teachers succeed in wedging movement out of the government.
“Nurses are next in line,” he said. “The argument will be: If you’ve done it once, surely you can do it again.”
But their show of support may be even more shrewd than it appears.
“The nurses, no matter what the law says, can’t go on strike and they know it (on account of) essential services designations,” said Thompson.
So since nurses don’t really need to worry about maintaining a strike fund, he said, it’s in their interest to help fund the teachers as they hold out for a better deal.
Late Wednesday, Jim Iker, the president of the BCTF, said more than 99 per cent of teachers who voted backed the union call for arbitration to end the labour dispute.
“Tomorrow morning, custodial staff could be pulling chairs off desks, teachers could be setting up their classrooms, school counsellors could be finalizing their timetables, teachers could be powering up their smart boards and classes could start this week and our children could be learning,” said Iker after he announced the results.
“Unfortunately, tonight there is a single group of people standing in the way of our schools opening their doors tomorrow. The B.C. Liberal government’s refusal to accept binding arbitration is now the only reason children won’t be back in class.”
Shortly after the results were announced, the Ministry of Education released a statement from Minister Peter Fassbender.
“We know B.C. teachers want schools re-opened. That is a goal we all share,” it read. “As we have consistently made clear, binding arbitration would lead to unacceptable tax increases in this case. That’s because the two sides remain too far apart on wages and benefits. The best way to resolve this labour dispute remains at the negotiating table.”
Sinclair said arbitration is the only fair way to end the dispute. He pointed the 2003 BC Ferries strike, which ended in arbitration, as proof this avenue can be productive.
Sinclair could not say how long he expected the $8 million to last. And he dismissed the idea that a settlement with the teachers that falls outside the government’s negotiating mandate would trigger so-called “me-too clauses” with other unions.
“Let me be very clear today, that whatever the teachers get, it is their negotiated settlement and the government is under no obligation to give it to anybody else,” he said. “That is the game that is being played here to divide us.” |
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發表於 2014-9-11 06:40
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