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Labour Relations Board OKs limited teacher walkout

The B.C. Labour Relations Board has ruled the province's teachers can escalate their job action to a three-day walkout provided they give their employers no less than two school days notice.

The ruling, requested yesterday by the BC Teachers' Federation, comes just hours before the provincial government is expected to present legislation imposing a contract on the teachers' who have been in contract negotiations with government for the last year.

The Board has also ruled the BCTF and the BC Public School Employers Association (BCPSEA) must work with the board to designate "essential service" levels for the BCTF's bargaining unit, and that after the initial three-day walkout teachers can walk out one out of every five instructional days as long as the escalated job action continues. Picket lines, however, are prohibited.

Review of the job action will be conducted on a weekly basis by the Board starting March 12.

"Teachers would prefer to be engaging in a meaningful mediation process to resolve this dispute rather than escalating it," says BCTF President Susan Lambert in a press release issued today. "But given the government’s ongoing refusal to meet us half way, we’re compelled to try to increase the pressure on both our employer and government."

Lambert called on the government to appoint B.C. Supreme Court Judge Stephen Kelleher to act as mediator between the teachers and the government during the bargaining process.

Minister of Education George Abbott was in a briefing with reporters at the legislature when news of the ruling broke. "I'll be looking forward to discussing what the LRB has ruled with my colleagues," he said, adding that included New Democratic Party Education Critic Robin Austin.

Abbott will introduce legislation this afternoon that is expected to impose a contract on the teachers, although he has indicated he is open to mediation provided the province's net-zero demands are met.

With files from Andrew MacLeod.

Katie Hyslop reports on education and youth issues for The Tyee and The Tyee Solutions Society.

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