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Dispirited because the creeps who run government affairs in British Columbia seem, almost always, to get their nefarious way when it comes to collective bargaining, stripping funding from programmes serving the interests of our most vulnerable citizens, or just generally riding roughshod over every cherished social programme caring citizens have put in place over the course of the past century?
Well, our provincial Lie-beral government doesn’t get its way every time.
British Columbia teachers, and advocates for the public education system, are celebrating a landmark Court ruling. The B.C. Court of Appeal has affirmed that teachers can grieve violations of the class size numbers in the School Act. The government had previously stripped class size limits from the teachers’ hard-bargained-for collective agreement, a move which resulted in larger classes and less individual attention for students.
According to a press release issued by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation …
In an unanimous decision handed down today, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in favour of B.C. teachers … ruling that “aggregate class sizes (are) a significant part of the employment relationship” … the Court of Appeal has ruled that an arbitrator can enforce the class-size limitations embodied in the School Act … BCTF President Jinny Sims said, “this is great news for students and teachers … the courts have once again ruled that this government is wrong.”
The BCTF was also awarded costs that the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association must pay.
Upon release of the ruling, Premier Gordon Campbell was quoted in The Vancouver Sun as saying “What I always try to do is follow what I understand the rules to be,” forgetting to add in his statement that the moon is made of cheese, employers always treat their employees fairly, and that he’s a ne’er-do-well renowned far and wide for being a lyin’ bastard.
