The Council of Canadians BC-Yukon supports B.C. teachers who are standing up to the Christy Clark government to protect quality education for students and fair working conditions for teachers.
The BCTF says they have three key goals in this round of negotiation: a fair wage increase, smaller classes sizes, and more support for students with special needs. The Council of Canadians calls on the B.C. government to listen to B.C. teachers who know what’s best for children. And we want what is best for our teachers. An investment in teachers is an investment in the future.
The strikes come in the wake of more than 13 years of under-funding by the B.C. government. Teachers in B.C. make far less than teachers in other provinces. For example, teachers in B.C. make $20,000 less than teachers in Alberta. The student-teacher ratio here is among the worst in Canada. Classroom crowding is getting worse and worse. More than 16,000 B.C. classrooms have four or more children with special needs. Nearly a quarter of those have seven or more. The B.C. government funds education $1,000 less per student than the national average. That means B.C. kids are getting short-changed.
The B.C. Supreme Court ruled twice when the government stripped protections for class composition and class size saying these needed to be restored. We call on the B.C. government to respect the court ruling.
How can the B.C. government claim to put families first when it’s neglecting our children and teachers?
Teachers don’t want to be striking. They want to be doing what they do best — nourishing children’s minds and hearts. Instead they have been left with no choice but to take a stand and fight for a fair deal! We stand with B.C. teachers who are courageously standing up for quality education, our children and our futures.
The Council of Canadians calls on our members and activists in B.C. to support B.C. teachers by:
– Joining B.C. teachers on a picket line or at a rally in your community. Click here for more information and updates on the B.C. teachers strike!
– Sending a letter, email or make a phone call to your MLA demanding a fair deal for teachers! You can email your MLA by clicking here
Take Action: Stand in solidarity with B.C. teachers and support them in calling for a fair deal!
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