The teachers of British Columbia deserve a huge vote of appreciation for standing on the picket lines to defend public education and collective bargaining rights. The Communist Party of BC salutes their determination to resist the attacks and provocations of the Liberal government, and to win the support of parents, students, and all who value public education. This courageous struggle goes all the way back to the first Liberal term in office, and the budget slashing and union‑bashing launched by Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark. We pledge to continue our solidarity with teachers and all education workers in this fight, which has now entered a new stage following the ratification of a new six‑year collective agreement. The teachers will go back to classrooms with justifiable pride that unlike the government, they made the interests of students their priority in this dispute.
After months of government threats and bullying, the final negotiated settlement was reached thanks to the solidarity of community groups, parents and students, and by the financial and moral support and of trade unions across the country and even internationally. Having made huge sacrifices, many teachers were understandably reluctant to accept a deal which leaves them with just 7.25% pay increases over a period of eight years, and with only minor gains on the crucial issues of class size and composition.
Some pundits want to add up figures to declare that the BCTF “lost” this strike. But we say: the teachers won by beating back Premier Clark’s insistence on concessions, by winning new funds ‑ however limited ‑ to help improve working and learning conditions, and most of all by rallying huge numbers of British Columbians against the Liberal assault on public services. This historic strike has improved the terrain for future rounds of the fightback against the Liberal agenda of cutbacks, privatisation and union bashing. The teachers showed that it is possible to say no to this reactionary government, with the solidarity of thousands who organized rallies, sit‑ins, and other actions. By winning the battle of public opinion, the BCTF and other unions in the education sector have shown the way towards a wider coalition of labour and community groups in upcoming provincial budget debates and around other issues. In our view, such a fightback coalition must go beyond demonstrations and other mobilizations with a defensive character.
This strategy can only succeed by challenging the neoliberal dogma of constant corporate tax cuts and “balanced budgets” ‑ an ideology which is rarely questioned by the NDP. The heart of the Liberal agenda is the deliberate program of massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporations, costing the provincial government more than $2 billion in lost revenue every year. This is a cynical tool to gut the entire public sector, from education to health to social services, with the aim of creating constant new crises, undermining public confidence, and pushing their privatization agenda. The teachers’ strike shows that this government will never relent in its efforts to push families out of the public system, and into private for‑profit schools, which are heavily subsidized by the working class through our taxes.
The struggle to roll back Campbell’s tax cuts remains the single most crucial element of the fight to put people’s needs before corporate greed in British Columbia today. The next stage begins with the municipal elections taking place this fall. The election of more Trustees and School Boards actively committed to demand full funding for public education is vital to turn up the heat on the Liberal government. We urge the BC Federation of Labour convention in November to take the initiative to build a powerful united movement for policies which will reverse more than a decade of Liberal damage to working people and our communities.
Statement from the Communist Party of BC, Sept. 19, 2014