Peter Fassbender – Minister of Education

“It is wrong and misguided for the BCTF leadership to expect a bigger
compensation package than all other public-sector workers simply because
they are willing to shut down schools.

“Their demands would plunge B.C. into deficit. No mediator can bridge
that kind of gap.

“There is also a big gulf on how to deal with learning conditions. The
British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) is
offering solutions that focus resources where they can best help
students. The union, meanwhile, continues to seek rigid class size
numbers and teacher ratios that only increase the number of teachers but
won’t necessarily address the actual learning needs of students in
classrooms.

“The BCTF says they want government to be ‘flexible.’ But what they
really mean is that they want us to abandon our balanced budget. We are
not going to go into debt, we are not going to raise taxes, and we are
not going to be ‘flexible’ with our commitment to be fair and even-handed
with all 300,000 B.C. public-sector workers.

“We’ve been very clear and consistent ever since BCPSEA tabled its
comprehensive offer back in June. The package on the table is fair and
reasonable – both in terms of teacher pay and on class composition – and
it is very near the limit of what we can afford.