BRITISH COLUMBIA ‘Teachers Continued from page 1 threats — and we clearly don’t threaten easily,” she told the rally. “John L. Lewis, the mineworkers leader told Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when he threatened to bring in the army as strike- breakers: you can’t mine coal with ~ bayonets. I would say to Mr. Vander Zalm: - You can’t run a school system without the Co-operation of teachers,” she declared. Across the province there was near total Support for the one-day action as teachers ave substance to the vote taken two weeks ago to embark on the study session if the government did not withdraw or substan- Uvely amend the legislation. At the largest secondary school in the Province, Centennial High School in Coq- uitlam where there are normally 1,800 stu- _ dents and more than 100 teachers, “there Were only six students and no teachers at Nine a.m.,” Mike Lombardi, president of the ‘Coquitlam Teachers Association, Teported. Even Education Minister Tony Brummet Was compelled to acknowledge that there Staying away from’ classrooms. Vander Zalm claimed lamely that the turnout was the result of “intimidation” by the BCTF. But that charge was flung back at him by 7,000 voices shouting “No” at Tuesday’s Tally as teachers responded to the question Put to them by chairman Jim MacFarlan: are you here because of intimidation? _ “Actually, 1am here because of intimida- tion,” West Vancouver Teachers Associa- tion president Kit Krieger noted later. “I’ve looked closely at the legislation and it scares the hell out of me.” From the platform, speaker after speaker emphasized the danger to the teachers fed- eration, to education and to basic demo- cracy implicit in Bills 19 and 20 — and the urgent need to head off that danger. “We are here today to organize ... to Study and to learn and to act because we know that the tough and difficult realities of Our time are compelling our members to act against Bills 19 and 20,” MacFarlan, an administrator in Burnaby, told teachers. CTF president Frank Garrity told the Tally: “We are heré to tell you that the teach- Ing profession of this country stands united behind you as you face the most vicious attack on the teaching profession ever per- Petrated by a government in the history of the country. “Nowhere in this country has a govern- ment ever brought in legislation to destroy a teachers’ organization,” he said. Garrity pledged the “unequivocal sup- Port of the CTF”, emphasizing that the faders of the provincial teachers federa- tions would be meeting in the next several Ys to establish formally a solidarity fund ' support B.C. teachers. The Alberta €achers Federation has already contrib- Uted $100,000 to it. _BCTF president Elsie McMurphy was 8iven a sustained standing ovation as she had been in excess of 80 per cent of teachers BCTF PRESIDENT ELSIE McMURPHY ... education.” walked to the podium, only minutes after arriving from meetings in Victoria. The teachers federation has been meeting for the past weeks with Education Minister Tony Brummet in an effort to get the government to withdraw Bill 20 for consultation, but the government has stonewalled any such action and, in fact, sparked further confron- tation by pushing the bill to second reading just as talks were getting underway. Because it has continued on that collision course, the government has left teachers no alternative but to take action, McMurphy declared. “The actions of the government over the past two weeks ... have necessitated this study session in order that our members can assess in an even more careful way the impact of this legislation,” she said. “And unless we can be more successful than we have been to date in our talks with government, this clearly will not be the end of strong teacher reaction to this legisla- tion,” she emphasized. “B.C. teachers need to assert their rights — and to assert and exercise them in’ a very visible way that shows clear resist- ance to those anti-democratic, unco- operative, unilateral government actions,” she said, urging teachers to “take their con- cerns to parents and the community.” McMurphy also addressed her remarks directly to parents and others in the com- munity, emphasizing that teachers had a responsibility to stand up for education in face of the legislative regime that the Socreds were attempting to impose on the system. “Do we just roll over and accept it? Do we walk calmly into meetings . . . to consider a clause-by-clause discussion of a bill that would destroy our federation?” she asked. “Or do we stake a stand — and say to the government: this is our profession, this is our federation and we will re-arrange it in L.S, (Larry) Armstrong President Serving workers in the telecommunications industry since 1949. 5261 Lane Street, Burnaby, 437-8601 D.E. Bremner Secretary- Treasurer must stand up for education’ “purpose of this legislation is to deunionize, destabilize and silence the critics of consultation with those who represent the public interest. But we will not be arbitrarily dictated to by any government — or by anyone else for that matter. “T would ask a more important ques- tion,” she said. “Does the public want peo- ple teaching their children who are prepared to let government steamroller them into submission — or should we have teachers who are prepared to stand up for their rights, both as professionals and employ- ees?” She urged teachers to continue their opposition, emphasizing that the purpose of the legislation “is to de-unionize, to de- stabilize and to remove the critics, to silence the voices that have pointed out the obvious shortcomings of this government’s educa- tion policies over the last six years.” The one-day study session will also put into action the instruction-only work to rule campaign adopted as part of the action plan by the BCTF April 10. Beginning the day following the walkout, teachers will not. take part in any extracurricular activity and will continue the campaign until a BCTF strategy meeting slated to take place in May. At local association meetings held earlier Tuesday, teachers adopted resolutions pledging united action if boards attempt to discipline BCTF members for their partici- pation in the campaign against the legisla- tion. The two resolutions read: “In the event that any teacher or teachers is/are given any letter of warning or reprimand or faces any other disciplinary action short of suspen- sion asa result of participating in the BCTF bargaining and professional rights action plan endorsed by the BCTF and local asso- ciations, the BCTF and local associations will continue the BCTF bargaining and professional rights action plan until all such letters are withdrawn and removed from the files of the teacher or teachers and any other disciplinary action has been rescinded by the board and. that the school board be advised of this resolution; TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN “In the event that the school board sus- pends any teacher or teachers as a result of participating in the action plan as endorsed by the BCTF and local associations, all BCTF members will withdraw their services and will not report for work until the tea- cher/teachers has/have been reinstated by the board with no loss in pay and that the school board be advised of this resolution.” May Day Greetings for peace, for unity, for jobs, Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labor Council FIGHT TO STOP BILLS 19 & 20 United Fishermen & Allied Workers Union PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 29, 1987 e 3