BC Teachers Strike: its not over until its over

The B.C. Teachers strike has come and gone and while the dust has settled for now it has the same feeling of the time between rounds of a boxing match.

This should not have gone on as long as it did. It could have ended earlier. The time for a diplomatic end the teachers strike showed itself during the labor rally in Victoria. The window of opportunity opened a crack but both parties slammed it shut. Neither side wanted to back down for fear of losing face or perceived power position. Whatever currency those were worth cost the possibility of a tactful end to the morass the province was mired in.

Diplomacy was needed by both sides at Monday’s labour rally. All who have been affected by this deserved at least that. When Premier Campbell finally responded to the teachers strike he said government will give a wage increase, work with teachers to overhaul the school act, and discuss remedying both class size and composition before the next school year and all as a part of the next negotiated agreement.

The makings of an end to this now lengthy dispute were there and it would have been fine enough for Premier Campbell to leave it at that, but no he couldn't. While he held out a plum with one hand he at the same time held a hammer over teacher’s collective heads with the other with the appointment of a special prosecutor to consider not civil contempt of court charges but criminal contempt of court ones which carry a heavier penalty.

Raising the legal hammer when he did wouldn’t have brought an end to this dispute, which both sides seemed to have forgotten was the goal; he didn’t have to raise it. Instead, it would have been there later if he needed it, but by prematurely doing so he succeeded only in inflaming, entrenching, and emboldening teachers into maybe dragging this out and at the worst possible time.

If Premier Campbell dispensed with the petulance and left it at the plum offer then the government and teachers could have maybe spent Monday morning in a room, probably have settled this for now at least pending substantive talks, and made a joint announcement on the steps of the legislature that afternoon to the 20,000 or so teachers and supporters who would have cheered instead of jeered.

The union isn’t exempt from criticism. They could have ignored the bait and taken the plum while holding Premier Campbell to the terms of his announcement at every turn. They also should have seen that their position wasn’t going to get any stronger and that public support for them wouldn't get any better than it is.

Of those respondents to a recent Ipsos Reid poll 57% still supported teachers, and 47% supported continued strike action. Those are the conditions in which they could have shown themselves to be the shrewder political brinksman. Premier Campbell’s offer isn’t everything they wanted but it’s the next best thing. His offer is also not at all what the government wanted either.

After Monday’s events I'm convinced that the reason both sides never seized the opportunity to end it was that they simply hate each other, and hate clouds reasoning like nothing else can. Relations and trust between them are soured and poisoned. If this were a marriage then it's not unreasonable to conclude both parties have irreconcilable differences and as with any marriage breakdown it’s children who end up impacted on the most.

The unseen end this may have served is the bludgeoning of one side in this dispute into submission, no matter what the cost. The government could well have sat on this, took whatever flak they had to for however long; exact maximum penalty on the teachers union via the courts, and for what was left of this dispute watch the teacher’s morale and unity implode. The courts never froze Liberal bank accounts so their MLA’s weren’t going to worry about food, bills, and rent or mortgage payments the way striking teachers had to and that's why they could afford to wait it out. Simultaneously those bloomy poll numbers would have started to wither and the combination of body blows could have set up a weakened teachers union for maybe one final knock out blow.

There was a lesson taught on Monday but it had nothing to do with school. It also had nothing to do with getting kids back into classes. Instead, this was about government setting an example to the labor movement by using this opportunity not to tactfully settle a dispute with one of their unions but instead to gut it, starve it, and bludgeon it into submission.

It never reached this point though. Vince Ready, the patron saint of labor-management relations brought and end to the matter by pulling a proposal that ended this out of his wizard’s hat. The teachers never got what they wanted and although the provincial government came out ahead they were punched up pretty good.

If good sense prevails then when the bell rings they'll get down to do their homework together instead of meeting at center ring for a rematch nobody wants to see.