Saturday January 28 marks the 10th anniversary of Bills 27 and 28, which stripped our collective agreements of class-size, composition, and specialist service-levels language. In 2002 tens of thousands of teachers marched in protest and outrage in Vancouver and Victoria.
Over a single weekend, the Liberals wiped out decades of advocacy and sacrifice by thousands of teachers across BC and launched a decade of cutbacks, school closures, and untold damage to teaching and learning conditions.
- 3,500 fewer teachers
- 200 schools closed
- 100,000 oversized classes
- Special needs neglected
- more than $3 billion cut from public education
To mark this anniversary teachers are strongly encouraged to wear black on Friday, January 27th and declare the occasion a Dark Day for PublicEducation in BC and send this message to government:
A decade of cuts is already too much. Way too much.
It’s time to end the cuts to public education. Stop the cuts and start fully funding our schools.
The BCTF has black scarves, toques, t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, pamphlets and more available for that day and can also be used for other events in the future. Follow the link to the portal to place an order.