The BC Finance Minister says the province welcomes the direction from the Supreme Court in a long-standing dispute with BC’s teachers over collective bargaining.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled the province was wrong when it used legislation back 2002 to strip teachers of their right to bargain class size and composition.
Michael de Jong says the 6-year collective agreement the province reached with the BC Teachers’ Federation in 2014 included an agreement on the process that both the employer and union would follow when the Supreme Court gave a verdict.
He says in the ruling, the Court confirmed that governments have the ability to legislate amendments to collective agreements. However, the process to legislate specific amendments in Bill 22, the Education Improvement Act, was flawed.
