ee ret tintin —aemie BRITISH COLUMBIA Teachers’ militancy a key factor in forcing Bennett to talk truce Despite their precarious position — they are not, technically, trade unionists and lack the relative protection of the Labor Code — B.C.’s teachers, with school support staff, effectively shut down most schools in B.C. it week in a solid show of support for the €scalating job action by Solidarity. Their collective job action, undertaken by at least 90 per cent of the local teachers association membership in most districts — ‘sending a clear message to the Bennett SOvernment that B.C.’s education workers Were serious and united in their intent to halt the Socred’s budget bills. Their contribution was undoubtedly a Major factor behind Bennett’s decision to Meet with Operation Solidarity and Solidari- ty Coalition leaders to hammer out the ar- Mistice Sunday. In their interests, teachers — and support Staff represented by the B.C. Government Employees Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Association of University and College Employees, and the Vancouver Municipal and Regional Employees Union — hit the picket lines to Protest the devastating cuts to public and Post-secondary education planned for the Next three years. Like the other public sector unions, the cation workers walked out in protest Over the arbitrary dismissal provisions of Bill - But the particular focus was Bill 6, the ducation Financing Act that slashed udgets, threatened the jobs of up to 4,000 teachers, and removed most decision- Making powers from local school trustees. Other demands went further, calling for Universal access to post secondary education . and changes to legislation limiting or | abolishing the human rights apparatus and the Rentalsman’s Office. _ “Teachers madea strong statement show- Ing they were very concerned about the future of education in this province,” asserted Larry Kuehn, president of the B.C. Teachers Federation at a press conference of Solidarity leaders at the BCGEU building Sunday. Among the ‘‘verbal commitments’’ given by government leaders were promises that €ducation funding for 1984 would be higher than planned under Bill 6, said Kuehn. Other “tails of the agreement — much of which Nvolves a commitment to consultation, Tather than a final settlement of the areas Under dispute — will be submitted to the : executive for consideration before be- ng made public, he said. Unanswered yet is whether teachers and Support staff are exempt from Bill 3. But Kuehn noted that agreements reached bet- Ween trustees and teachers in Coquitlam and North Vancouver, approved by Compensa- “on Stabilization Program commissioner Peck: that same day, exempted the teachers from the bill’s provisions, setting a Pattern” for exemptions in the other Cts. he said Teachers staff picket line at Burnaby North Secondary. last week. During the strike last week BCTF officials reported an overwhelming response among teachers, who left work or respected picket lines set up by the support staff unions and Solidarity volunteers. This was in spite of in- junctions prohibiting picketing and/or job action sought by at least 33 of the province’s school boards. Significantly, many boards did not seek injunctions, with many giving as their reason an acknowledgement that the job action was. a political protest against the Socred govern- ment, and not against local trustees. In Courtenay, the board voted 5-2 not to seek an injunction, trustee Wayne Bradley reported. In Port Alberni and district, the school board had decided in advance to close schools in the event of the walkout, but were prohibited by an order from deputy educa- tion minister Jim Carter, said Alberni rural trustee Gary Swann. On the first day of the strike, ‘S100 per cent” of the CUPE members stayed off the job, while only three of some 400 teachers crossed lines to work, TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN Support staff talk to students at Vancouver Technical school during school strike The teacher and support staff action has brought the issue of education cutbacks front and centre to British Columbians. ‘‘A lot of people are looking at this question for the first time,’ said Nanaimo Teachers Association president Jim Howden. Howden, who reported a 97 per cent teacher participation Nov. 8 and a 98 per cent response Nov. 9 had some words for those who in his community have been vocal in their opposition to the walkout. “Most of them didn’t give a damn when the government legislated school closures, (chopping several days in last year’s budget),”’ he said, citing the case of one anti- teacher parent who had personally urged the Nanaimo board to cut its budget last year. Down Island in Sooke, local teachers association spokesman Ron Warder said the response from most parents has been positive, materializing in coffee and food deliveries to the picket lines and other sup- port actions. Powell River Teachers Association presi- dent David Paul said 99 percent of the teachers stayed off the job, while CUPE members were out ‘100 per cent.’’ The school trustees have not sought an injunc- tion, he reported, because in their opinion “the dispute is between ourselves and the prec government, and does not involve em.’’ CUPE, BCGEU and the local teachers association share the same strike head- quarters in Nelson mirroring the situation in several other parts of the province. A Nelson Teachers Association spokesman said only two teachers reported for work on the first day of the job action. He also reported all schools closed in nearby Arrow Lakes, and most schools in Grand Forks. At press time BCTF officials were still compiling results of the participation of teachers in Lower Mainland schools. In Vancouver, between 80 and 90 per cent of the teachers stayed out, closing completely 76 schools, partially closing 49 others and leaving only two schools functioning nor- mally in the first two days, saida BCTF staff member. TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN Progress in talks reviewed Nov. 28 Continued from page 1 blems. (See Analysis.) planned escalation not take place. strike action.” president Larry Kuehn. “We have just called a truce.” sometimes disquieting — questions. unions.”’ the circumstances.”’ paign against them. said. and file support ”’ drawn some criticism. Kelowna. government. strike was set to take place, Munro and Bennett emerged amidst the glare of television lights to declare that they had laid out ‘‘an avenue for resolving the pro- Munro added that, on the basis of the agreement reached, he was recommen- _ding that picket lines come down and the At a midnight press conference in BCGEU representative Jack Adams, secretary-treasurer Mike Kramer told reporters that, on the basis of the report from Munro, ‘‘we aré prepared to ask the participants in the Solidarity Coalition and Operation Solidarity to postpone _ With him at the press conference were BCGIEU representative Jack Adams, CUPE divisional president Owen Dykstra and B.C. Teachers’ Federation Noting that Operation Solidarity would review the situation in two weeks, Kramer emphasized: “‘In no way, shape or form are we saying that the war is over. What the government will do with that truce and what tangible legislative and policy changes it will make in line with the agreement remain as the major — and Commenting on the agreement Kube noted, ‘‘I think we have to see that we have already gained a couple of victories. “Bill 2 is dead,’’ he said. ‘‘And Bill 3 effectively. won’t -be used because agreements have been reached or promis- ed that will exempt all public sector He acknowledged that in other areas “St?s just a promise,’’ but emphasized that it was ‘‘the best we could work out in Kube noted that the government had initially been prompted to sit down at the bargaining table by the action of teachers who maintained a high level of strike uni- ty and solidarity despite the massive cam- “The government didn’t believe the teachers would go out together; it didn’t even believe CUPE would go out,’”’ he “Our solidarity was the key,”’ he said, adding that there was ‘‘tremendous rank ‘*At every stop we were being tested — and I think we came through,”’ he said. Kube said he would be focussing on building the Solidarity Coalition and strengthening the unity between labor and community groups that was established in the four months since the campaign against the budget was launch- ed But whatever the long term future of the Coalition, there have already been in- dications that participants want the pressure kept up now to ensure that the ‘consultative process’’ with the govern- ment does achieve some tangible results. Although it had a high profile before the escalating strike program was launch- ed Nov. 1, the Coalition was largely removed from the negotiating process with the government, a factor which has The Coalition steering committee did meet Sunday night when committee members heard a report of the talks in The Lower Mainland Solidarity Coali- tion was meeting at Tribune press time and was expected to consider various pro- posals to set up the campaign for con- tinued action against the Socred legisla- tion and for substantive changes by the PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 16, 1983—Page 3 Si