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Latin American Educators rally in Support of BC Teachers:
Demand that Canada Comply with International Law
IDEA Network - October 15, 2005.– Teachers and students throughout Latin America are coming to the defense of BC Teachers in the face of what they consider an unprecedented attack on teachers? rights.
On October 14, the same day a British Columbia Supreme court judge cut off strike pay for BC teachers and placed an intervenor in the BC Teachers? Federation offices to ensure that no financial or material assets are used to support the federation?s strike, educators in Mexico and Guatemala held demonstrations outside the Canadian embassies demanding that Canada comply with international labour law.
Although the BC government has repeatedly accused BC teachers of breaking the law in their weeklong strike, it is actually Premier Gordon Campbell?s legislation against teachers and public education that has violated international law. In March 2003, a tribunal of the United Nations? International Labour Organization (LIO) ruled that BC legislation that declared education an ?essential service,? stripped teachers of the right to negotiate working/learning conditions and arbitrarily imposed a three year contract (bills 18, 27 and 28) contravened various articles of international conventions to which Canada is a signatory.
The ILO tribunal directed the BC government to rescind or amend the offending legislation in order to comply with international law. Further, the UN body directed the government to ?avoid in future having recourse to such legislated settlement, and strongly hopes that the next round of negotiations will be held in accordance with the [freedom of association] principles mentioned above.? In ignoring this directive, the recently legislated Bill 12 that extends the original illegal contract by another two years puts the BC government in contempt of the ILO rulings.
Teacher organizations in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Ecuador, and OCLAE, a continental federation of high school and university student organizations have also submitted letters demanding that the BC government comply with international law. Teachers in Honduras, Brazil and Chile say they plan actions at Canadian embassies in the coming week. As well, Mexican teachers are offering to set up a BCTF website in their country as a way to circumvent the BC court gag order prohibiting the BCTF from communicating with their members.
The BCTF, through the Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education and the Initiative for Public Education in the Americas (IDEA), has played a prominent role in the defense of public education in the region. Through these organizations the BCTF has helped to free teacher and student leaders jailed for defending public education.
However, it is not just out of gratitude for this solidarity that Latin American educators and students are coming to the aid of BC teachers. ?We must evaluate the strategy of the BC to break the resistance of the BCTF teachers,? writes Mariluz Arriaga of the Mexican Section of the Trinational Coalition. ?Just as with free trade, they have begun with Canada and will later try it in our countries. To legislate away the right to strike, impose a contract by law, freeze the assets of the union and intervene in the communications between the federation and its teachers are measures that are much more reactionary than anything that has been applied in this country. But the governments of Mexico and of other Latin American countries will also try it if it proves successful in Canada.?
For more information, contact Steve Stewart, International Secretary, IDEA Network: Tel. 604-708-1495, ext. 115; E-mail:
redsepa1@hotmail.com
or
sstewart@codev.org
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