Minister of Education Don McRae takes issue with a BCTF criticism arising from a framework the B.C. government proposed Thursday for its relationship with teachers.
"The BCTF is claiming that the government's proposed framework ignores the ruling of the BC Supreme Court that teachers have the right to bargain working conditions, such as class size and class composition," McRae said Friday in a news release.
"This is false and the proposed framework offers no basis for this conclusion. As the BCTF quite properly points out, the government's own Bill 22 allows for these issues to be negotiated. The government and its education partners fully expect to negotiate class size and composition issues irrespective of the length of the agreement. Teachers have the right to negotiate class size and composition whether it is towards a two-year contract or a 10-year contract.
"This confusion reinforces how important it is for the parties to sit down together so the BCTF can fully explore and understand the government's proposed framework, continued the Comox Valley MLA.
"We need to work through important questions and issues< McRae said. "It would be unfortunate for B.C. students and families if we
allowed misunderstandings to prevent us from exploring any potential path to labour peace."
— Ministry of Education