Shrugging off the government’s Pyrrhic victory in the BC teachers strike

Lawrence Boxall
Seven Oaks Magazine

November 2, 2005

“The primary task for the immediate future is to strengthen the unprecedented solidarity that the teachers built, both with other unions and with the public at large. In addition, we need to capitalize on the growing understanding of the interconnectedness of education, medical services and other government services as targets of neo-liberal globalization that simultaneously seeks to increase the exploitation of workers everywhere.”

On Monday, October 17, 20 000 teachers, union members and other supporters shut down the provincial capital of Victoria and marched on the legislature. Within 48 hours, it was clear that the teachers of British Columbia and their union, the BCTF, were on the verge of becoming victims of an institutionally driven betrayal of enormous proportions in terms of the size of the opportunity that was being squandered.

After four years of battering from the wrecking ball of neo-liberalism, working people in British Columbia finally had a cause, one that ignited public support behind the teachers and dispelled the defeatism that had settled over the province. The slanderous statements from government spokespersons about a union and its members failed to find traction, nor was the logical absurdity of legislating a