Job action by B.C. teachers is fully justified, and deserving of country-wide support, CPC Says!

The Communist Party came out today in support of B.C. teachers who are defying a back-to-work injunction in their battle against a government-imposed contract (Bill 12) introduced by the Gordon Campbell provincial government in Victoria. Meeting in Toronto, the Party's Central Executive declared “the job action by BC teachers is entirely justified and necessary in the face of a bullying, even dictatorial government bent on destroying free collective bargaining for workers in that province.” “The province's coffers are flush with surpluses; the government can well afford to negotiate a fair settlement with its teachers, and restore decent funding to B.C.'s public school system. But instead, the Campbell government has provoked this conflict as part of an orchestrated campaign to foment crisis conditions in public education, to weaken and gut it in stages, while cultivating a parallel system of private schools. “Campbell and his cohorts know full well that the province's teachers are the main bulwark against their secret privatization agenda, and that it why they are forcing Bill 12 through to crush the resistance of the BC Teachers Federation and its members. “The Communist Party applauds the swift action of the 540,000-member Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Canada's largest union, the BC Federation of Labour, and other labour and community organizations in declaring unequivocal support for the teachers' struggle. The CPC called on the entire labour movement in B.C. and across Canada to rally emergency support for the teachers, developing an escalating program of mass picketing, street demonstrations and broader job action, until Bill 12 is withdrawn. The Party is mobilizing all of its own members and supporters in British Colombia to join the teachers' picket lines across the province. “This is a watershed battle in defence of collective bargaining rights for workers. But it is also a decisive moment in the struggle to defend of public education from the ruinous neoliberal policies of right-wing governments bent on dismantling and privatizing a big chunk of the public sector to the benefit of their corporate backers and buddies.” “That's why our Party congratulates the teachers of British Colombia for taking a firm stand against this vicious government/corporate onslaught, and why we urge everyone – parents, community activists, trade unionists, youth and students, seniors and retired persons – to support and join them in their struggle.”

For more information, contact Miguel Figueroa, CPC leader at 416-469-2446 (office) or 416-419-5319 (cell) or at figueroa@cpc-pcc.ca.