Teachers tell govt:
job action April 28
if Bill 20 not pulled

‘Child

a y,

Children have been among the major
victims of the Reagan administration’s
_ drive for more and more nuclear weapons,
_ Dr. Benjamin Spock told a Vancouver
audience Monday.

The pediatrician who first rose to fame

_ in the mid-Forties with his still renowned

~ book on child care and who more recently

has been associated with political activism

_ said social programs for children, the

- poor, women and the sick have been sacri-
-ficed in the U.S. arms buildup.

Speaking on “raising children in the

nuclear age,”’ Spock told the audience at
_ the Ends the Arms Race sponsored event
_ that children of all ages fear nuclear war.

U.S. anti-war activist Dr. Benjamin Spock addresses

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“Children under the ages of six or seven

fear not for their own death or injury ina —

nuclear annihilation, they worry about,
‘who will take care of me if my parents are
killed?” —

audience at End the Arms Race talk April 20.

People and Issues, page 4
SAGE and vets, page 3

Historic opportunity, page 9

Teenagers often react with depression

or cynicism, Spock said.

“They're not just feeling sorry for near

selves. I saw two movies with teenagers

breaking down and crying. And it made

me cry too, to think, ‘What kind of a

world are we turning over to teenagers?’

he related. Oe
Saying he “thoroughly disapproves” of

U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s adminis- —

tration, Spock reminded the audience that
both Reagan and Defence Secretary
Casper Weinberger are on record as say-
ing America has nothing to gain by disar-
mament. :

With recent talks between U.S. State :

Secretary George Shultz and Soviet

leader Mikhail Gorbachev, “the news has _

sounded good in the last couple of weeks.”

But, said Spock, “I’m going to remain
skeptical (about Reagan’s intentions) until
I see some real movement for disarma-

“ment”

Pteceteenas

April 22, 1987
40°

Vol. 50, No. 15

Leaders of the B.C. Teachers Federa-
tion were backed by a solid 70 per cent
vote for job action this week as they
headed into a meeting with Socred Edu-
cation Minister Tony Brummet to press
their demand for withdrawal of, or sub-
stantive amendments to, Bill 20, the con-
tentious Teaching Profession Act.

But if the government is not prepared
to change course on its disruptive legis-
lation, then the BCTF will use the man-
date given it by teachers and launch a
one-day province-wide study session
April 28, BCTF president Elsie
McMurphy declared Monday.

‘**What we have in this mandate is a
clear demonstration of how distasteful
our members find this legislation to be,”
McMurphy told a news conference at
BCTF headquarters.

The balloting among the province’s
28,000 teachers was carried out over the
last week and a half by local associa-
tions which then shipped ballot boxes to
the BCTF for an audited count. The 70
per cent tally was based on votes from
some 22,400 teachers.

The solid majority in favor was par-
ticularly significant since the ballot was
clear and specific in giving BCTF lead-
ership a mandate to initiate job action
against the legislation.

The wording of the ballot, which was
confidential during the vote, asked mem-
bers to vote yes or no to the question:
“Are you in favor of authorizing the
BCTFE executive committee to initiate
the action plan recommended by the
April 9 Representative Assembly.”

That plan adopted by the assembly
called for:

® Immediate withdrawal from all
Ministry of Education committees and
activities, including all activities relating
to the setting and marking of provincial
examinations;

@ The executive committee to call an
immediate withdrawal of services and
authorizing subsequent day or days
withdrawal/s on a rotating or province-
wide basis;

@ A province-wide instruction-only
campaign to begin immediately follow-
ing the first province-wide withdrawal
of services, to remain in effect until a
strategy conference is held.

see TEACHERS page 3