President of the BC Teachers' Federation Teri Mooring is interviewed during a protest at the Victoria Convention Centre in Victoria on Nov. 23, 2019.British Columbia’s New Democratic Party government has spent the past 15 months fighting a group of workers who want the right to organize into a collective bargaining unit.
B.C.’s teachers were given the right to full collective bargaining in 1987, but at that time, principals and vice-principals were excluded as managers. The BC Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association , with 2,600 members, didn’t jump at the court ruling as an opportunity to organize. But over the years, working conditions for their members across the province’s 60 school districts became wildly inconsistent. Even within school districts, individual contracts varied, and could be stripped at will by the trustees.
“Our members across the province do not have a desire to unionize,” said Kevin Reimer, president of the BCPVPA. “We don’t want that much power, so don’t put us in the position where we have to ask for it. We don’t want the nuclear codes, let’s find something that works for everyone.” Keith Evans, counsel for the Attorney-General, held the pen for the school district in the LRB hearings. In his March 29, 2020, filing, Mr. Evans made “loyalty” a reason to deny certification. Having a separate bargaining unit for administrators, who in turn have to manage employees in another union, would create a potential conflict of interest, he wrote: Their loyalties would be divided.
Israeli attacks on the Palestinians are against international law and basic morality and must come to an immediate end. We urge the world to take action now to stop the new waves of Israeli aggression. HopeToGaza