96% of B.C. Teachers union members who voted have cast a ballot to tell the government to butt out of contract negotiations.
BCTF out going president Susan Lambert says it is a rebuke of the government dismissing the employer group and appointing a lead negotiator five months into talks.
"There was a unilateral decision by government to revoke BCPSEA's mandate at the table and we will go ahead and have discussions with Mr. Cameron. But our point of view is that our side wants a collective agreement. That is what we are working towards that is what is what we are putting all of our energies and resources towards and we hope government has the same objective."
Lambert says it also reaffirms the teachers union's opposition to the idea of ten year deal, as mandated by the province.
"Well there has always been a cold shoulder to that. I mean all of us recognize that ten years is far to long to predict into the future and so predicting two years or five years or ten years is simply unwise."
However Lambert says it does not mean an impasse at the table.
"Our view is that there is no crisis that we will be resuming bargaining in the normal course of events as we go back into school and we will continue to bargain as best we can until we reach a collective agreement."
When asked Lambert would also not rule out job action in the coming school year of talks go nowhere.
"It is our hope that both sides will come to the table with constructive positive view to getting a deal at the bargaining table."
B.C's Education minister is shrugging off a majority of B.C. Teachers Federation members voting to tell his government to butt out of ongoing contract talks.
Peter Fassbender says they were invited in to those talks by the teachers.
"It was the BC Teachers Federation that clearly asked us in January to get involved directly face to face on the financial items and also the class size and composition as a result of the court case."
Fassbender says he is also not meddling but is instead just hitting pause on those talks so the two sides can work out a roadmap for negotiations.
"We didn't butt into the negotiations we just simply said could we just put those aside for a short period of time and develop a roadmap moving forward. That is what we did. My understanding is we had some good meetings today in the first step towards that end."
He also thinks teachers are not giving a tabled ten year deal a fair shake.
"Well I think they are saying no thanks without any context at this stage and right now it is simply characterized as a ten year mandate and that is it but there is a lot to that, that we have to work through and we are going to do that with them in a spirit, as I said, of co-operation and collaberation."
Bargaining will now take a break for the summer and resume early in the coming school year.