Editor:
To critics of our teachers' current job action, please consider the following: The provincial government's efforts at rapid deficit reduction with insufficient regard for buffering the social consequences is one of the root causes of the current education dispute. B.C. has the highest rate of child poverty in Canada, and the second-lowest education funding. Due to scaled-back services, many of our children are suffering.
The BCTF's financial resources have been depleted through 12 years of court proceedings (still ongoing) to force the government to repeal unconstitutional education legislation regarding working/learning conditions, and to seek legal remedies. That is why there is no strike fund.
Wading through the court documents makes for disheartening reading. These reveal a pattern of relentless provocation by government that no selfrespecting teacher can accept. Examples include the incitement of strikes, bargaining in bad faith and imposing lockout/paydeductions. For a Crown prosecutor's comments on the court findings, see Global TV's interview with Sandy Garossino at globalnews. ca/video/1554649/legal-perspective-on-proposal-e-80.
While teachers sincerely and deeply regret the hardship caused to families by our job action, unfortunately, in our 30-secondsound-bite world, striking is a last-resort effort to focus the public's attention on education issues, and to pressure the government to re-evaluate its policies. Otherwise, the status quo continues.
If some of our critics, including the minister of education, wish to "spin" our assertiveness as "silly," "awkward," "lame" and "naïve," we say to you: We are standing up with pride for the well-being of students, the dignity of teachers, and the centrality of quality public education in a prosperous, yet compassionate, society. There is nothing degrading about that.
Shelley Lyons
Suzan Egan-Olsen
