Informaton for parents, guardians,

and everyone who cares about

Public Educaton in BC
from the BC Teachers Federaton
Why are teachers on strike today?
BCs public school teachers have been trying to get a new collectve agreement since February 2013. Going on strike,
even for one day, is a last resort for teachers. Well contnue to work patently to get a deal with BCPSEA, the provincial
governments bargaining agent.
How many days will this strike go on for?
Between May 26 and 29, 2014, every school in BC will have a picket line for one day. If more days are planned for strikes,
the public will be noted well ahead of tme.
What do teachers want?
More one-on-one support for students who need it most and guaranteed levels of specialist teachers
Smaller classes, so all students can get the individual atenton they deserve
Time to prepare lessons that engage diverse learning styles
A reasonable wage increase that respects teachers skills and responsibilites
What has government oered?
The last salary increase that teachers received was in July 2010. The government oered BC teachers two more years of
zeros, while most public sector workers have received at least cost-of-living raises.
What are the governments latest moves?
Following the threatened cuts to pay and benets, they moved to lock out teachers for the last one to three days of the
school year. Then they moved to prevent actvites before and afer school. Teachers are also now prohibited from helping
students at lunch tme.
Teachers are bargaining for students too
Teachers have worked for years to get beter conditons for our students, including giving up salary and benet improve-
ments. The BC Supreme Court restored class-size and compositon language and minimum levels of specialist teachers that
were illegally removed in 2002. We know that this language helps all our students, and we hope that the government will
honour the court ruling.
The BC government funds educaton $1,000 less per student than the natonal average. The governments budget has
hundreds of millions of dollars that should be invested. Beter conditons for BC kids should be a higher priority.
How parents can get involved
Talk to your childs teacher(s) about what our schools need and how parents, teachers, trustees, and others can work
together. Recently school districts were forced to make thousands of teacher layos and deep program cuts to balance
inadequate budgets. Your children, our students, deserve beter.
Phone, email, or visit your MLA and ask school board candidates where they stand. On the website www.aFairDeal.ca
you can write the Minister of Educaton and your MLA.
Please go to the BCTF website www.bct.ca for more informaton and updates.
BETTER SUPPORT
FOR KI DS
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BC teachers remain commited to negotatng a deal at the table. That is our goal.
We truly appreciate all the support we receive from parents.
May 22, 2014