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A huge victory for BC teachers: Supreme Court of BC upholds collective bargaining rights &tc
Fri, 2011-04-15 00:39
#1
N.Beltov
A huge victory for BC teachers: Supreme Court of BC upholds collective bargaining rights &tc
Fri, 2011-04-15 00:59
#2
N.Beltov
In a landmark decision by the British Columbia Supreme Court, handed down today, the court declared the legislation that stripped teacher collective bargaining rights in 2002 unconstitutional and invalid. Madam Justice Griffin found that Bills 27 and 28 were a substantial interference in bargaining rights and infringed on freedom of association guaranteed under the Charter of Rights.
Supreme Court Restores Teachers' Rights
The historical evolution of collective bargaining as a protected right recognizes that there is a psychological benefit to workers to be able to collectively bargain over their working conditions - a benefit that goes beyond the economic benefits that they might obtain. The recognition of the right to collectively bargain as part of the freedom to associate, reaffirms the values of dignity, personal automony, equality and democracy that are inherent in the Charter.
Collective Bargaining AS PART OF THE FREEDOM TO ASSOCIATE is significant. The BC Liberals and Education Minister Christy Clark (now Premier Clark) carried out savage attacks against BC teachers, with irreparable consequences for BC children in terms of class size and quality of education, in the forms of Bills 27 and 28 which stripped teachers of their Charter Rights by legislative fiat. Clark's teacher-hating legislation has been found to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND INVALID.
Eat shit, Premier Clark. May you suffer a humiliating and personal defeat by the people of BC next time you muster the courage to face the voters of this province.
Fri, 2011-04-15 02:01
#3
Go BC Teachers!
Thu, 2011-04-28 23:38
#4
Huge victory indeed! Hopefully public service unions in all jurisdictions will take note - in most jurisdictions (including the federal) they are barred, by legislation, from even trying to negotiate such elementary issues as job classification, layoffs by seniority, job bidding by seniority, pensions, etc. This is the dark secret that few wish to mention or tackle.
[url=http://www.lancasterhouse.com/about/headlines_apr28.asp]Lots more detail[/url] about the teachers' victory, as well as a link to the full decision. From the article:
Although the judge suspended the declaration of invalidity for 12 months and the B.C. government is also considering whether to appeal, this decision is likely to have some immediate impact because the current collective agreement with the province's teachers expires in June and negotiations for a renewal agreement are already under way. B.C. Teachers' Federation President Susan Lambert immediately said that teachers will insist that class size limits be on the bargaining table, emphasizing that "our full bargaining rights have been restored and we will act accordingly." Education Minister George Abbott acknowledged that the ruling "could potentially add a layer of complexity to what are already complex negotiations." Premier Clark, for her part, said that although the legislation had broad support when she introduced it as education minister in 2002, "clearly it wasn't the right bill. The [B.C.] Supreme Court has told us that, so we are going to address that, and we're going to have to make sure we get on a different footing with the teachers' union, just as the court has suggested."