Well, British Columbia’s 38,000 teachers have walkedoff the job. Other than the usual gang ofLiberal apologists and the expected Liberal Partypropaganda mills also known as the mainstreammedia, who can blame them?

The government and itsbosses in the big business community would have usbelieve that we are faced with this so-called“illegal” action over a matter of money, a fifteenper cent pay raise to be exact.

Of coursetarring the teachers with the “illegal” brush andthen focussing on pay raises is simply asmokescreen tactic to veer the public away fromdiscussing the more substantive issues at playhere. “Illegal” and the threat of more taxes arealways good points to use to rouse up the moregullible members of society in an attempt to gaintheir knee-jerk support. PT Barnum made a livingoff these kinds of people.

Whether or not the action is illegal raises anumber of moral and legal questions which thegovernment isn’t addressing in its condemnation ofour friends and neighbours in the educationcommunity.

On a purely legal ground, Canada is amember of the International Labour Organization ofthe United Nations. Over the past three years, theILO has condemned the Campbell government ninetimes for contravening labour standards thatCanada is obligated to uphold. This includedcondemnation of legislated contracts. So, it canbe argued that calling an action illegal which isan action against a law which in itself may beillegal is somewhat of a disingenuous enterprise.

Perhaps before it gets too deep into the legalswamp with the teachers, the B.C. government mightwant to examine its own actions in light of theinternational agreements it is pledged to honour.Clearly its labelling of the teachers’ job actionas illegal is an act of pure hypocrisy.

It is worth noting, too, that Len Doust, thespecial prosecutor brought in by the government tointimidate the teachers with criminal contemptcharges, is taking a very cautious approach at themoment, and refraining from action while heobserves the situation. Perhaps he is a lotsmarter than those who hired him.

The moral questions involved in the teachers’action strike deep into the heart of ourdemocratic society. A successful democracydepends on respect for the rule of law to surviveon one hand, and on the other it depends upon lawsthat are fair and just and moral. Without thelatter there is no respect, and with no respectthe system crumbles.

In a progressive and justsociety, governments are obliged in theirlegislation to create laws that are fair andrespect the basic values of that society.Citizens have an obligation to resist governmentswhen they abandon these values or face theconsequences of losing control of their societyaltogether.

In the case of the teachers, the law that they aredefying is one that flies in the face of valuesthat we have developed through decades of hardwork and sacrifice. It is one of a series of lawsthat have been imposed by a government bent onhaving its way no matter what the rules andprecedence are.

Look at the history. WhenCampbell first formed a government, he failed tonegotiate in good faith with the teachers andforced a legislated contract on them. When thecourts ruled against him on issues he wrote newlaws overruling the courts. In the currentsituation he has used the legislature once againto make a law to extend a previous bad law that hehad to make legal by writing other laws thatvoided the rulings of the judiciary.

WhatCampbell and his government have done and aredoing is changing the rules and the goal postsevery time that the game does not go their way.He has done all of this instead of doing what anydecent leader would do — sit down and find a moreproductive way to reach an agreement and makethings work.

There is the argument that he is doing all of thiswith the purpose of destroying public education inB.C. so that he can have an excuse to sell it off tothe private sector. There is another one thatsays this is a planned confrontation by Campbellto destroy the union. True or not, both fit thehistory and political mind set of Mr. Campbell andhis party.

There was a huge rally in support of the teachersin Victoria last Monday. Despite the bad weatherit is estimated that over 10,000 people took tothe streets. Predictable howls were heard fromthe province’s reactionary business organizations,fearing a season of labour unrest. Their fearsmay be well founded. One participant in the rallysaid, “I have been on pickets and rallies in myday, but I have never heard the gut wrenchingsincerity, anger and determination in the facesand voices of those I saw marching today.”

B.C. CUPE president Barry O’Neill told the rally,“This is a fight for workers’ rights in thisprovince.” But Barry is wrong. This is not justa fight for workers, it is a fight for all of usin this province who wish a democracy responsiveto the people rather than rule by corporateflunkies.