The one take-away from a day of empty public appearances by both sides in the B.C. education war is how much better off everyone is when there’s a media blackout on the talks, or non-talks.
Sure, nothing too productive happened when the government and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation representatives were keeping their mouths publicly shut. But at least there was the faint hope that maybe some tiny bits of progress were being made privately.
That illusion was completely extinguished Wednesday, after media appearances by Premier Christy Clark and BCTF president Jim Iker.
Clark gave a sloppy portrayal of the situation and left the confusing impression that she was being conciliatory and protective of taxpayers at the same time she was eager to take the BCTF on in a brawl.
Iker resisted her goading over a stupid time-waster to do with massage benefits, other than to say the premier was wrong.
But he ranged way off his turf in railing on about the cost of the B.C. Place roof and the government’s settlement of the California power-exports dispute. He was using the examples as cost comparisons. He left the strong impression the BCTF has political interests that run well beyond its mandate to represent teachers.
In the midst of all their rhetoric, they both said exactly the same thing: “Let’s get back to the negotiating table.”
But they both managed to talk past each other and ignore the fact they seem to agree on that premise. Two opposing leaders deliver public statements saying negotiations should resume, then walk off stage knowing negotiations aren’t going to resume.
Let’s go back to everyone shutting up in public and working the phones privately. Anything is better than this.
Iker said as much toward the end of his futile public attempt to convince anyone the strike could be settled soon.
“Maybe we’re in the media too much,” he mused. “Maybe we should be bargaining instead of out here.”
In the face of all the cost estimates showing the union and the government are light-years apart, he insisted they’re actually quite close. A year apart on length of term, and one per cent on wages (if you put aside the $5,000 signing bonus that’s on the table, under the heading of “negotiable.”)
But even if you buy that optimistic read, there’s no hiding the rift in the other front in the war.
It’s called “classroom composition,” which has become code for all the makeup required to address the contract-cutting the government did previously in the field of support staffing. The government has lost two major court cases over it and the BCTF is pressing for immediate and total redress.
Iker also seems to think mediator Vince Ready is still involved, which might come as a surprise to Ready, who walked away on the weekend. He might be taking phone calls and watching, but if he watched the dueling news conferences, he’s unlikely to go anywhere near the non-negotiations until something real happens.
As far as Clark was concerned, you wouldn’t think it would be possible to overstate the poisonous relationship the BCTF has maintained with governments over the years. But she managed it.
“For 30 years, kids have found themselves locked out of the school because we have such a dysfunctional system,” she said. “Until we can start negotiating agreements at the table, that dysfunction is not going to end.”
Kids have missed a few days here and there a handful of times. It’s regular enough to be an annoyance, but painting it as a 30-year lockdown is pure hype.
“Teachers need to come to the table with realistic proposals. I mean for heaven’s sake, 150,000 other public-sector employees who work just as hard have settled for far less. They didn’t get a $5,000 signing bonus, they didn’t get unlimited massage, they didn’t get an extra day off every year.”
But the massage issue has gone by the wayside. The extra day off, in high schools, is debatable, as it’s prep time.
The only thing certain is that both sides blew another day talking about doing something — negotiating — instead of actually doing it.
