BRITISH Columbia's teachers aren't going to walk out on students - at least not yet.
The B.C. Teachers' Federation announced Wednesday that its 41,000 members will vote April 17 and 18 on whether to escalate their job action to a "full protest," according to federation president Susan Lambert.
The plan comes after three days of discussions at the federation's annual general meeting.
In the meantime, the union plans to launch a legal challenge to Bill 22, the provincial bill that forced teachers back to work and into a six-month "cooling off" period. Meanwhile, the teachers will continue doing outreach and advocacy.
Lambert stressed that the B.C. government should take the time between now and April 17 to reconsider Bill 22.
"Government can rethink this legislation. Government can take the higher ground. It has the choice. It has the power," she said.
It will still be up to local teachers' associations to decide if they will continue offering voluntary extracurricular sports, programming and events for students, though the April vote may put an end to all such out-of-hours work.
On the North Shore, the West Vancouver Teachers' Association has already pulled out of extracurricular activities, one of 12 associations in the province to do so, while North Van teachers have yet to decide if they will continue.
"We are suggesting to our members not to start anything new," Lambert said.
West Vancouver Teachers' Association president Robert Millard he couldn't comment on the likelihood of his members voting to walk out until the association has a meeting after March break. "I told them, 'Don't dwell on this over the holidays.' I said, 'Go away, have a good time and we'll talk about it when we get back,'" he said. "I will explain to them the job action that was voted on at the BCTF's general meeting. We'll discuss, and then we'll see how it goes."
Millard added that the decision to end afterschool volunteering was not one reached easily.
"It really is a tough decision, and for the average teacher, they see it as the only way they can make a statement about what's going on," he said. "They're frustrated."
North Vancouver Teacher's Association president Daniel Storms has been unavailable for comment.
Should the members vote to walk off the job, BCTF will face fines of more $1.3-million per day and teachers will be docked $470 per day - something that weighs heavily on the minds of the union, Lambert said.
"We understand the gravity of the situation. The fines are unprecedented. They are punitive. There is obviously an attempt to stifle this union - to stifle a voice for kids," she said. "Courage is not the absence of fear. But we have to stand up to the type of dismantling that this government is envisioning."
Lambert put the blame for the current impasse on a "decade of neglect" by the government beginning with Premier Christy Clark's time as the province's minister of education.
