With the first week of school now lost and no end in sight to the teachers' dispute, the government remains firm that it won't legislate an end to the labour unrest.
I guess it could be considered noble that Victoria doesn't want to use the hammer at its disposal, as it's done in the past with teachers, opting instead to try and find a resolution at the bargaining table. It doesn't want to appear inflexible or dictatorial, and is hoping to avoid the bitterness a heavy-handed approach would incite.
That makes sense in a theoretical way, but given the acrimonious history on this file, that ship sailed long ago.
The two sides have been going at this for the last 18 months and they're still so far apart even accomplished mediator Vince Ready doesn't see enough middle ground from which to broker a deal. So how is it all going to end? No one can be sure, but "badly" will likely be one of the tamer adjectives to describe the eventual outcome.
There's likely to be little movement in government's position, an intransigence that has drawn the ire of BCTF leaders. Teachers could reduce their demands and essentially accept what's on the table, but given what's transpired thus far, that's another unlikely scenario. What we're left with is both sides standing resolute (although easier said than done for teachers who are going without a paycheque), waiting for the other to blink.
It's one thing to keep half a million kids out of class while the two parties hammer out a deal, but it's quite another to close schools to engage in a staring contest. If negotiations were ongoing and progress was being made, then by all means let the process play itself out, but they're not even at the table, much less making any headway.
Imposing a contract is undoubtedly a last resort, a step neither employer nor employee wants to take, but exactly what are our options at this point? It doesn't appear they're any closer to reaching an agreement today than they were back in the spring, so we'd be foolish to think another week or month of the same would result in anything different. And where will we be a month from now by taking that approach?
Something needs to happen soon before the school year is materially impacted. Maybe that's mediation, or binding arbitration or some other form of negotiated settlement, or perhaps it's yet another imposed contract.
One way or another this thing has to get resolved in order to get students back in class.
