Terrace Teachers Ahead of the Times, Plaque
This bronze plaque is located at the Terrace Sportsplex, 3320 Kalum St, Terrace, BC. It was developed with the support of the Terrace District Teachers’ Union.
The plaque was cast at Ornamental Bronze, a unionized foundry in Richmond which has operated since 1928. It was unveiled on October 5, 2017.
This is one of many Plaques around the Province, a project of the BC Labour Heritage Centre which aims to recognize events, actions, episodes, movements, or experiences that played a significant role in the history of the labour movement and working people in all regions of British Columbia.
Terrace Teachers Ahead of the Times on Bargaining Rights
The plaque reads: A full six years before BC teachers won the legal right to strike, Terrace teachers walked the picket lines for six days in 1981. Their strike was triggered by the forced transfer and demotion of two popular school principals, then members of the Terrace District Teachers’ Association. Led by their Local President Wayne Wyatt, teachers first staged a one-day walkout on May 6, to protest the Board’s arbitrary treatment of their members. Then, after setting clear objectives to get contractual guarantees of reasonable personnel practices, the teachers went out from June 12–19, 1981. Their strike ultimately won them a personnel practices agreement that helped bolster the BC Teachers’ Federation’s ongoing campaign for full bargaining rights. BC Labour Heritage Centre 2017 Union Made Terrace District Teachers’ Union