BARtalk #12: What was that teachers strike all about?

By Gordon Katic, September 22, 2014

On Thursday, members of the BC Teachers’ Federation voted to approve a new collective agreement with the provincial government and to end the weeks-long teachers’ strike. For weeks, students were left without school while the teachers’ union fought the province over class sizes, funding and salary increases.

Now that the strike appears to be over, many questions still remain. What led to the strike? What exactly is in the deal between the teachers and the province? More importantly, how is this strike significant for both the future of public education in BC and labour relations and the role of unions in the public sector?

Join us for an informal, interactive discussion on the issues surrounding the BC teachers’ strike this Thursday, at 6PM, featuring our our expert panel:

• Mark Thompson, a UBC Sauder School of Business professor emeritus, has been a frequent commentator in the media on the recent teachers’ strike. His research interests include the changing roles of labour and management in public services, industrial relations and labour issues. Listen to his recent interview on CBC Radio here.
• Katie Hyslop is a Vancouver-based journalist who writes on education issues for the Tyee. She’s also the news editor for the Megaphone Magazine. Read her article on the BCTF deal here.
• Wendy Poole, a professor at the Faculty of Education, teaches courses related to leadership and the aims of education, teacher unions and education and organizational learning. A former secondary school teacher from Nova Scotia, her research interests include teacher unions, teacher union leadership, and the impact of neo-liberal and neo-conservative policies on K-12 education.