Proposing binding arbitration made the BCTF look better: political observer
Posted September 8, 2014 7:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – For the second week this school year, there are no classes for kids, as the teachers strike continues. There seems to be no end in sight for the dispute.
Over the weekend, bargaining between the BCTF and the government took a turn for the worse, after the province rejected a proposal for binding arbitration. But despite the lack of movement, a political science professor thinks one side has come out looking a bit better.
Hamish Telford with the University of the Fraser Valley says teachers benefited just from throwing the option for binding arbitration on the table.
“I don’t think the BCTF expected the government to accept binding arbitration, so it was a good move on the part of the BCTF to show that they are looking for a way out of the impasse,” he tells us.
Telford thinks it was a strategic move. “The BCTF, I think, was trying to score some public relations points with the offer.”
He believes bringing in an arbitrator is still a possibility if there’s still no movement in a week or two, as the government may reconsider its decision.
“It can’t continue indefinitely. At some point, one side — or perhaps both sides — will feel that they cannot do it any longer and they need to get back to the negotiating table and hammer out an agreement. When they do, I think it will happen quite quickly.”
Telford says both sides are reluctant to back down now because it would show weakness.
The head of the BCTF, Jim Iker, is expected to make a statement later this morning.
