The sun shone for Bowen’s teachers picketing outside the Bowen Island Community School grounds on Tuesday morning, but the greater gift for them was the morning’s news that the BC Teachers Federation and the provincial government had reached a tentative agreement. Not knowing any of the details of the agreement, teachers said they were hopeful that the deal would be good enough to vote for, allowing for the resumption of their jobs in the classroom.
“At this point, we all just want to get this settled,” said Tanya Kim. “I’ll be happy as long as the E80 clause is not in the agreement.”
Jim Iker, president of the BC Teacher’s Federation, said this clause, which would remove the teacher’s ability to bargain over working conditions including “class size and composition,” was one of the biggest impediments to the two sides reaching a deal.
Kim said that she believes the willingness of the government to get serious about negotiating was a result of public pressure.
“I saw a poll that showed that more people in British Columbia think the teachers are being reasonable than the government,” says Kim. “Of course, I’d like it if we had more support, but I am grateful for that, at least. I also think that last week, when it looked like this was going to stretch on, parents really started to rally.”
Kim, and other teachers who live on Bowen but work off-island, said that they chose to picket here as opposed to at their schools on the mainland because of a greater level of community support.
“I did one day of picketing in West Van and there were people rolling down their windows and yelling at us,” said Beth Turner. “Here on Bowen, we’ve had so many people walk with us, talk to us, and bring us treats. I even had one father, whose kid goes to IPS, come up and talk about how angry he is with the government. I don’t think that would happen everywhere. The homeschoolers, and the un-schoolers, they’ve been supportive, too.”
Turner added that she is one of many teachers who is eager to get into their classrooms as soon as possible to get set-up for school starting on Monday.
“Teachers tend to like things to be just so. Given the time constraints for getting organized, things won’t be the way we want them to be. It will be a bit chaotic but at least we can get school started.”
