October 26, 2012 - No. 135

British Columbia

New Attack on Free Collective Bargaining
for Teachers

Teachers and their supporters rally against attack on right to collective bargaining, Vancouver, March 7, 2012.

British Columbia
• New Attack on Free Collective Bargaining for Teachers - Charles Boylan
• Unfolding of Jobs Plan Shows Need for New Direction for Economy - Barbara Biley

For Your Information
• Pre-Election Advertising Rules Struck Down
• Initiative Petition on Marijuana Approved

British Columbia

New Attack on Free Collective Bargaining
for Teachers

- Charles Boylan -

 1,500 Vancouver students walk out and rally in support of teachers, March 2, 2012.

On October 17, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark announced "a review of the teacher bargaining process that will see government engage with the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) and other education stakeholders on how best to make systemic improvements prior to the next round of bargaining."

A government statement quotes Clark: "'As we settle into a new school year, a key goal for government is to create a more stable learning environment for BC's students and their families,' said Premier Clark. 'Imagine being able to negotiate a ten-year deal. Imagine a child starting Grade 2 this year moving through to graduation without ever having to experience labour unrest again. Can it be done? I don't know. Is it worth trying? Absolutely. We need to put our preconceptions aside, we need to put the past behind us, and we need to be flexible and work with teachers to achieve long-term labour peace.'" She said, "We need to leave the past behind us."

But the "past" is what the BC polity must keep clearly in mind to understand where Clark's government is heading with this latest announcement. First off, there has been a general assault on public education by governments of all stripes since the 1980s. A major assault was made by the Social Credit government at that time, that was later consolidated by the NDP government in the 1990s to provide public financing for private for-profit schools. This broke the historic tradition in BC of providing public funding only for public education, the only jurisdiction in Canada not to do so. Since then financing of private education has gone up year by year, as financing for public education in real dollars has declined.

A more particular "past" that Ms. Clark may not want to be reminded about was her role as Minister of Education in 2002. On January 28, 2002 her Bill 27 and Bill 28 stripped every clause in BCTF contracts with Boards of Education and the provincial ministry having to do with class composition and class size. This affected every district but one. Further, teachers had in collective bargaining previously made a conscious decision to forgo wage increases, thereby slipping below many provincial teacher salary scales, in order to win important working conditions dealing with class composition and limiting class size. Class composition requirements meant that for a set number of special needs students in a class there would be a set number of special education assistants. The legislation also prohibited the teachers from ever bargaining classroom size or composition again. When Clark says, "We need to leave the past behind us," she is being duplicitous because it is precisely in that past that a major attack was carried out against teachers' fundamental right to collective bargaining, including their working conditions. The teachers have been very emphatic that their right to negotiate working conditions, including class size and composition, impacts directly students' learning conditions. Their first concern has been the students, as well as, of course, to maintain for teachers the remuneration, benefits and pensions commensurate with the important social role they fulfil.

The "past" also includes a court case, decided in April 2011, that found Clark's 2002 legislation in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the course of that case the BCTF and polity learned that her legislation to eliminate from teachers' contracts all clauses dealing with class size and composition was directly dictated by the Treasury Board to cut "costs". The Treasury Board set out for the Education Ministry exactly what had to be cut to realize the savings demanded by those driving budget decisions. In short, dictating what could or could not be negotiated with teachers had nothing to do per se with the needs of students, teachers or creating a quality education system, but rather it was about meeting the demands of the financial oligarchy to "reduce government costs." Ironically, the Campbell government of the day had just made a 25 per cent cut to provincial income tax which paid the rich a lot and ordinary workers very little. This "cut taxes/cut services" formula is the dictate of financial oligarchs world-wide as they hand over public funds to the monopolies "too big to fail," paying the rich while wrecking social programs established in the course of many decades of struggle.

Clark has attacked free collective bargaining -- the means through which a collective of workers fights and wins wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions acceptable to themselves and commensurate with the work performed. She is now set to impose new collective bargaining structures. While she feigns interest in "consulting" teachers and other "stake holders" in education, she has provided a time frame of only a few weeks to do so. Can anyone imagine that her government does not already have a scheme worked out that will allow it to impose a "ten-year peace" on the teachers, irrespective of what they think?

How does a collective resist this attack on its membership and its rights? Disequilibrium exists in the education sector because the government refuses to recognize the rights of education workers, and wants to degrade further public education, then hand it over to its friends who will profit from private education. The demand for privatization has become so strong because few areas are now open where profit can be made anywhere in the economy.

An issue raised by Clark is how can BC have equilibrium in the education sector. Her response is certainly not based on recognition of the rights of education workers and increased investments in public education.

However, Clark has opened space for discussion on how workers defend their rights in an important and broad sector. It also opens discussion on who should be responsible for educating the youth and determining their learning conditions, etc. According to the working class, those education workers directly involved should be at the centre of making decisions and determining matters such as the budget, along with students and parents. Who else is better qualified? The same with running the cities, forestry, etc. Currently, everything is determined and run by those with capital and social connections. This has to be opposed.

The direct thrust of Clark's October 16 announcement to "re-write" negotiations with teachers is to further wreck free collective bargaining. Governments everywhere are replacing free collective bargaining with direct dictate and the use of discretionary powers. Take it or leave it or we will fine you and throw you in jail. Work according to our rules or be gone!

This must not pass! All British Columbia workers have a direct interest in defending the teachers' right to free collective bargaining, including the right to bargain working conditions such as class size and composition.

Unfolding of Jobs Plan Shows Need for
New Direction for Economy

- Barbara Biley -

The Christy Clark government's recent announcement that 2,000 workers from China will be brought in to work in the new coal mines in Northern BC provides proof of what many have suspected from the outset -- the Canada Starts Here - BC Jobs Plan has nothing whatsoever to do with "building the BC economy" in any way that the workers of BC would recognize as rational or socially responsible. The BC Jobs Plan is Christy Clark's contribution to the neo-liberal agenda which demands that all the natural and human resources of the society be put at the disposal of the monopolies and one of its pillars is mining. Hence the "development" of mining in BC courts foreign investment and hands over the resources of the province to the global market without a thought to the well-being of the workers, the environment or the building of a self-reliant economy. Hence human trafficking is carried out under the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

An ambitious plan to "create eight new mines and expand nine existing ones by 2015" is in the works. Measures have been put in place to fast-track permits and the Premier has made three trips to Asia to drum up "investment" where, she says, the prosperous and growing middle class is an eager market. At the same time the BC Jobs Plan acknowledges skills shortages and purports to address these. The "skills shortages" raised by the industry are addressed in a government document entitled "British Columbia's Mineral Exploration and Mining Strategy -- Seizing Global Demand" issued May 16, four days after the BC Jobs Plan six-month progress report was issued May 12 and the day following the Price Waterhouse Coopers annual report on the mining industry in BC entitled "Forging Ahead."

The BC Jobs Plan includes an acknowledgment that the economic "development" that it envisions needs skilled workers and that the mining industry in particular has identified a shortage of skilled workers. Should the decision be made that mining is the first step in processing, manufacturing, and trade for the purposes of development on the basis of self-reliance and for mutual benefit, it would be entirely possible, to establish a rational program of skills training through the public secondary and post-secondary education system in BC. But this is not the approach that the BC government has taken to the "skills shortage."

Its starting point that resource extraction is to satisfy the claims of the monopolies -- a decision from which the workers and people of BC are entirely excluded -- has set the path as to how it plans to solve the problem of finding skilled workers. From the outset the BC Jobs Plan has openly acknowledged that "roughly a third of the forecasted million job openings over the next decade" in BC will be filled through immigration. The "Mineral Exploration and Mining Strategy" report states in a section entitled "Skills Development and Recruitment":

"Employers in various industries across BC are already dealing with skills shortages. Mineral exploration and mining have been hit particularly hard and, without action, the lack of skilled labour could hold back the sector's growth. The primary solution lies in education, training and diversifying into non-traditional labour markets. The Province facilitates skills development in mineral exploration and mining in a number of ways, but even with a multitude of programs in place, BC may not have enough workers to fill job openings over the next decade. Along with developing the skills of British Columbians, the Province will welcome and integrate skilled workers from other provinces and countries to help keep BC's economy growing."

On the education and training front two main measures are outlined:

The Industry Training Authority -- an industry-led replacement of the apprenticeship programs that used to support the all-sided training of trades workers. The industry-controlled replacement provides training in only certain aspects of trades to meet the immediate needs of industry and results in "tradespersons" with limited skills.

Employment Skills Access -- a new program that "provides tuition-free, group-based training at public post-secondary institutions in response to regional priorities." Included in the programs specific to mining are a four-month course at North Island College on Vancouver Island called Underground Mining, a three -month program at Northern Lights College "to prepare people from Chetwynd for entry-level positions at a surface mine operation," and a three-month program entitled "Mothers to Miners" at Northern Lights College specifically for women from Tumbler Ridge to prepare them for entry-level positions at a surface mine operation, primarily in haul truck driving. The University of Northern BC has a three-month certificate programme for 14 workers which is said to provide "a broad skill set for employment in the oil and gas and mining sectors." Aside from these three- and four-month programs there is an 18-month course offered between February 2012 and March 30, 2013 to members of the United Steelworkers Union in Northern BC who work in mining and forestry to upgrade computer and other skills.

This is not the long-term all-sided education and training that modern labour needs. This is short-sighted and narrow-minded to suit the short-term needs of capital.

This is the context for the news of the first wave of up to 2,000 temporary foreign workers being brought to Northern BC to work in new underground mines. The operators are supported by the federal government's Labour Market Opinion process, that there are no workers with the required skills to do the work. At the same time it has become clear that Chinese workers applying for these jobs are being forced to pay upwards of $12,000 to recruiters. In the spring the Harper government, as part of its first omnibus budget bill, Bill C-38, changed the prevailing rules so that workers hired under the federal Temporary Foreign Worker program would be paid wages up to 15 per cent below the prevailing wage rate for skilled workers. Temporary foreign workers enter the Canadian workforce without support, indentured to employers whose exploitation is virtually unregulated and, at least initially, without organization.

The Temporary Foreign Worker program is a program of modern-day slavery in which the governments -- both federal and provincial -- act as human traffickers, providing employers with "legally" indentured workers who are without the basic standards that Canadian workers have achieved. It is aimed at providing cheap labour without security for the migrant workers, which undermines the wages, working conditions and organizations of the Canadian working class.

It is estimated that there are some 70,000 temporary foreign workers in BC. There have been notorious cases over the last few years of workers in silviculture, agriculture and construction in particular, being forced to live in terrible conditions and work long hours at far less than the minimum wage, who face termination and deportation if they resist.

Resource development and the organization of the economy, from investment to education, must be renewed and modernized on the basis of upholding public interest, not private monopoly interest. Canadians must hold the Harper and Clark governments to account for their anti-worker and anti-social policies. A pro-social direction for the economy is based on self-reliance, humanizing the social and natural environments, trade for mutual benefit, public education to impart the skills needed for a modern society, and social policy that prohibits programs such as the Temporary Foreign Worker program, providing full rights and work permits for short-term employment and permanent resident status for both undocumented workers and temporary foreign workers.

For Your Information

Pre-Election Advertising Rules Struck Down

The BC Court of Appeal on October 4 struck down the BC Government's second attempt to impose limits on "third party" advertising during the pre-election period.

In 2009, provisions of the Elections Act were struck down by the Court as a result of a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge by public sector unions including teachers, nurses and post-secondary educators. That decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal in October 2011.[1] The Court said in its ruling, the legislation "overshoots its overall objective of electoral fairness."

In May, the Liberal Government introduced new amendments, which set a shorter "pre-election" period (40 days instead of 60 days) with an exemption if the Legislature is still in session.[2] The government decided to refer this amendment directly to the Court of Appeal for a ruling on its constitutionality.

In an October 4 decision, Justice Lowry of the Court of Appeal found that: "the definition of election advertising is overly broad. It captures virtually all political expression regardless of whether such is intended to influence the election, and, as explained, all individuals and organizations are affected even if their election advertising is voluntary."

Last month, the BC Government Service Employees Union won an appeal against a $3.2 million fine imposed by Elections BC following the Chilliwack-Hope and Port Moody-Coquitlam by-elections.[3] The fine was imposed when the union continued a pre-arranged advertising campaign for several days after Elections BC said it was prohibited. An emailed response to a union enquiry was sent by Elections BC at 5:00 pm on a Friday and not picked up until the following Tuesday.

BC Supreme Court Judge Barry Davies struck down the fine September 7 on the basis that the union had acted in "good faith" by emailing Elections BC requesting direction on the matter.

BCGSEU had initially also challenged the definition of "election advertising" and the way in which the fine was calculated. Those aspects of the appeal were not pursued when the fine was quashed.

The union argued that it was carrying out an advertising campaign leading up to the expiration of its collective agreement with the BC government, as part of a pre-arranged negotiating strategy. The fine was calculated based on ten times the value of the "campaign" although the campaign was province-wide and the by-elections were only in two constituencies.

The penalty section of the Elections Act charges third parties ten times the amount considered overspent while political parties are charged two times.

Notes

1. BCTF et al v BC (Attorney General) 2009 BCSC 436 and 2010 BCSC 440 refusing to grant a stay. The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal on October 19, 2011 BCTF et al v BC (AG) 2011 BCCA 408
2. The Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), Bill 41, in Section 80 amended the Election Act to provide for a 40-day "pre-campaign" period and for an exemption if the Legislature is in session and for three weeks thereafter.
3. The text of the advertisement in question can be found at tyee.ca/Opinion2012/08/28Elections-BC-Censorship.

Initiative Petition on Marijuana Approved

Elections BC has approved an initiative petition calling for a referendum to amend the Police Act to restrict any provincial funding to enforce prosecution for the possession of marijuana. The initiative also calls on the federal government to grant an exemption to British Columbia regarding marijuana prohibition laws, for a study on the legal regulation of marijuana and for possession offences for minors to be treated in a manner similar to alcohol offences.

The collection of signatures commences on November 17. For a petition initiative to be successful, more than 10 per cent of registered voters in each of the 85 constituencies must sign the petition within 90 days of the commencement date. Elections BC must then validate each signature. To collect signatures on a petition, a canvasser must register with Elections BC, complete the required form and carry Elections BC identification while collecting signatures.

Elections BC has approved eight citizen initiative petitions since 1995. The only successful initiative was the 2011 petition demanding the removal of the HST. The HST petition gathered 557,383 validated signatures. For the anti-HST initiative, Elections BC registered 6,556 canvassers compared to 4,002 canvassers for the failed proportional representation initiative campaign in 2002.

In the case of the HST petition, although 713,883 signatures were collected, only 557,383 were validated. The threshold required was 299,611. In the proportional representation initiative, 212,473 were required and only 98,165 were returned in the required period. None of the other initiative petitions came anywhere close to obtaining the required number.

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