A deal that provided significant classroom improvements but didn't break the proverbial bank simply didn't exist - or at least that's what we were led to believe during the prolonged labour strife between B.C.'s teachers and the provincial government.
The teachers, we were told, were asking for too much and acquiescing to their demands would come with a steep price, one too dear for taxpayers to absorb. As a result, we got more than a year of onand-off bargaining, followed by a month of rotating job action before a full-scale strike closed schools in June and kept them shut into September.
Given the chasm that separated the two sides, which made bargaining sessions both infrequent and pointless, it looked to me like we were headed for yet another legislated conclusion to this sordid saga. Yet the agreement that was expected to be ratified yesterday (results of the teachers' vote weren't known before our press deadline) finds a middle ground that didn't, until earlier this week, appear to even exist.
Even with $400 million being infused into the education system to hire new teachers over the life of the six-year contract, Premier Christy Clark says the agreement is within Victoria's fiscal plan and won't result in higher taxes, more debt or a reduction of services.
Say what?
If the government had that type of negotiating flexibility all along, and could absorb a cost increase of that magnitude without breaking the public purse, why did it take so long to broker a deal? If negotiators for the employer had come to the table with something even remotely close to the eventually agreed upon figure, surely it would have started a ball rolling that didn't seem to move until very late in the game.
To their credit, teachers did put learning conditions ahead of their own salaries, agreeing (presumably) to an increase of just 7.25 per cent over six years. It's clear they were willing to come down - way down - on their wage demands, so if the province had moved earlier on the issue of class size and composition, you'd think this agreement could have been signed long ago.
I could make more sense of this whole charade it if the government had stuck to its cupboard-is-bare stance and ultimately legislated teachers back to work, but if there is indeed money in public coffers to make a negotiated settlement a reality, then why the heck were schools closed for five weeks?
This deal should have been consummated before any classes were missed.
