Students and parents rally in support of their teachers in March 2012. | Photo by Brent Granby.

Last week, the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) won a major victory. Justice Susan Griffin of the BC Supreme Court ruled that the BC Liberal government negotiated in bad faith with the BCTF, deliberately trying to provoke a strike by teachers back in 2012 so that they could gain political advantage. The court ordered the government to pay $2 million in damages to the BCTF.

Following the court decision, the Victoria Times-Colonist issued an unusually scathing editorial on Jan. 30, 2014.

“The B.C. government threw your children under the school bus. A B.C. Supreme Court justice says the B.C. Liberals, under Premier Christy Clark, deliberately tried to provoke the province’s teachers into going on strike. It was a campaign so cynical it makes the ‘quick-win’ ethnic-vote ploy seem like a footnote,” the editorial argued.

This court victory for the BCTF is the latest in a long running battle with the B.C. government. It began in 2002, when the then brand new Liberal administration imposed a contract on the teachers and passed Bill 28, which removed important issues like class size from teachers’ bargaining options.

Guess who the Education Minister was back in 2002? None other than current Premier Christy Clark. In 2011, the court ruled Bill 28 unconstitutional and ordered the government to come up with new legislation. Justice Griffin, in her ruling, finds that the Liberals turned around and brought back essentially the same legislation – Bill 22 in 2012 – thinking it would goad the teachers into taking strike action. Last week’s ruling follows a decision last year that provincial legislation interfering with collective bargaining rights was unconstitutional, contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It’s a galling episode all around, the spectacle of a Supreme Court Justice having to explain the ABCs of labour rights and freedoms to the provincial government.

“The freedom of workers to associate has long been recognized internationally and in Canada as an important aspect of a fair and democratic society. Collective action by workers helps protect individuals from unfairness in one of the most fundamental aspects of their lives, their employment,” wrote Griffin in her decision.

So will this latest embarrassment for the B.C. Liberal government do it any lasting political damage? It’s hard to say and, after last year’s election shocker, it’s easy to despair that no scandal or disgrace will be enough to bring down Premier Christy Clark.

At the very least, it should strengthen and embolden the teachers union and their members. The BCTF and Clark have a long acrimonious history, and the teachers have proven to be one of the most active and effective unions in the province over the past decade.

In 2005, they staged a strike, despite government threats that the job action was illegal, risking heavy fines and even jail terms for the union’s leadership. The government’s rhetoric against the union didn’t work, and support for the teachers actually increased after the “illegal” strike began. Province-wide, other unions took solidarity actions, but the labour movement stopped well short of mobilizing a general strike to back the teachers. Nevertheless, the 2005 teachers’ strike is one of few high points of mobilization for BC’s labour movement in recent years.

Teachers are a special bugbear for right-wing ideologues everywhere. Such disdain for the workers trusted with educating our children is really a perfect expression of the right’s general meanness bordering on misanthropy.

In response, teachers need to be defended, and public education in general championed. We should not just push back against teacher-bashing and support the BCTF. We should also make the case for the dignity of teaching.

Those who we as a society assign the job of transmitting culture and knowledge deserve the highest respect and honour. They deserve so much better than this BC Liberal government.