Support for Teachers
The link to the Supreme Court ruling which is at the heart of this dispute:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/14/01/2014BCSC0121cor1.htm
A letter from the BC Federation of Labour:
http://bcfed.ca/public-sector-unions-tell-premier-clark-we-stand-in-solidarity-with-teachers/
LAWYERS SPEAK OUT IN SUPPORT OF TEACHERS
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/09/09/e80-what-lawyer-joel-bakan-has-to-say/
http://globalnews.ca/video/1554649/former-crown-prosecutors-legal-perspective-on-e-80
(It gets especially good from 6min on)
VANCOUVER MAYOR SUPPORTS TEACHERS’ PROPOSAL
CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS TO SUPPORT TEACHERS
There is a group of parents who created http://www.familiesfundingteachers.ca They have set up a donation platform and have raised about $26,000 already.
There is another crowdfunding campaign at http://igg.me/at/teacherfund
VANCITY STRIKE RELIEF PLAN
https://www.vancity.com/Banking/StrikeReliefPlan/?xcid=fb_strikereliefplan
VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE ON CROWDFUNDING IN SUPPORT OF TEACHERS
East Van parent sparks online fund to help striking teachers
Vancouver Sun – Tue Sep 9 2014 Page: A8
A single mom with expertise in social media is behind a crowdfunding initiative that has raised more than $20,000 to support B.C. teachers.Kate Milberry, who lives in East Vancouver with her two kids, age 12 and 10, started Families Funding Teachers with a group of friends who wanted to show their support for striking teachers, who have been without paycheques since mid-June.
“I was incensed by what I saw as the buy-off of parents from the Clark government in the form of the $40-a-day daycare subsidy,” Milberry said.She put out a question on Facebook, asking parents if they would donate their $40 to teachers. It resulted in a lively conversation that spread to Twitter and ultimately a group came together to set up the site, which went up on Labour Day.
In a week, the site has raised $23,127 in donations made directly to the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s strike fund, which “helps fight court battles and supports teachers in financial distress,” according to the site..“This is a real show of support to teachers,” Milberry said. “If a million people donated $5, teachers would have a really strong fund to support them through the strike. We know that one of the ways governments bust unions is by starving them out.”
As of the morning of Sept. 4, the B.C. Ministry of Finance said 63 per cent of eligible B.C. public school students had registered for the $40-a-day payments, which go to parents of public school students for each student under the age of 12.The cost will depend on how many parents register for the payments. The government is proposing to pay the $40 for an estimated 300,000 public school pupils out of the $12 million a day it expects to save in teacher salaries during the strike.
The website started with a goal of $10,000 that was increased as they came close to reaching it, Milberry said. The goal shown on the site is now $30,000.Milberry says she is not a member of BCTF or any union affected by the shutdown of B.C. schools that has delayed the start of the year and caused students to miss 19 days of school. Milberry, an education officer with the B.C. Nurses’ Union, is also a university instructor in an online class at the University of Calgary. She has a PhD in communication, with a specialty in social media activism. During the strike, Milberry and a group of her friends have put together a self-schooling group for their kids.
Meanwhile, the dialogue on social media is growing and forging connections that have never existed in previous labour disputes, Milberry said.
On Monday the #bced hashtag was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in B.C. Milberry said she has noticed many new users on social media.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation said its members would vote on Wednesday to end their strike if the government agreed to enter binding arbitration and drop a proposal (E80) that the teachers say could negate their court wins.
SUPPORTIVE MESSAGES FROM THE BCFL
SONGS AND STORIES FROM THE PICKET LINES
Please check this link for stories from the picket lines: http://bctf.ca/teachervoices.aspx
You might also be interested in participating on our facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/BCTeachersFederation