MLA Rice feels pressure from local teachers as contract negotiations continue

Many of the membership of the Prince Rupert District Teachers Association were part of North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice's re-election campaign two years ago working hard to ensure he success at the polls in the 2017 provincial election.

 Now, however as contract negotiations between the NDP government's Ministry of Education and the British Columbia Teachers' Federation have hit some snags, the teachers are offering up a nudge for the MLA as to what's at stake on the local level and wondering where she stands on the issues.

The BCTF has embarked on an awareness campaign that takes issues with the approach that the British Columbia School Employers' Association is taking to the negotiations, noting that low per pupil funding and low wages does not equate to healthy schools and quality public education.

The teachers' Federation and the Government negotiators at the BCPSEA have been engaged in some lengthy discussions, with little in the way of progress to be found towards the key question of classroom composition.

The cost analysis from both sides about as far apart as could be imagined on a singular theme, with the BCPSEA calling the BCTF''s position unrealistic.

In some social media messaging over the weekend, the Prince Rupert Teacher's point of view was pretty clear, with Ms. Rice on the receiving end of some information related to the impact of contract concessions on the Prince Rupert classroom.

The chart that the teacher's shared with the MLA indicate an increase of classroom sizes in some instances as high as 6 to 9 students if there are contract concessions.

Some of the local teachers that have social media accounts have observed that while Ms. Rice has been quite involved in some school issues of the past, the water situation at local schools for instance, on the current state of negotiations they observe that she has not had a lot to say for SD52 teachers.

As for the negotiations, such as they are, things are at somewhat of an impasse at the moment, which does seem to explain the surge in social media activity in recent days.

We can probably expect much more of the same as the talks continue to June 30th and perhaps beyond through the summer as the two sides look to find some kind of compromise that will satisfy both parties.

Should there be no progress on the key issues of composition and class size, September may make for some province-wide labour troubles for the Horgan government


A look at some of the news coverage of the negotiations can be explored below:

Threat of strike looms as BC teachers and province appear far apart on big issues
Class size, composition making for 'rougher than expected' teachers' contract negotiations: advocate
Class sizes back on the table as BC teacher talks at a standstill
BCTF contract talks  - a war of two words?
'Completely untrue': BC teachers' union president says province seeking contract concessions
This is why BC Teachers will likely go on strike. Again

For background on SD52 and the other Schools and School Districts of the Northwest see our archive page here.

For items of note from the Legislature see our archive page here, while a wider overview of the provincial political scene can be found on our D'Arcy McGee blog.

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