The Langley Affair, Booklet
The “Langley Affair” of 1939-1940 details a significant struggle by Langley teachers, primarily women, to enforce an arbitrated salary award against their school board. This event is a key part of the history of BC teachers’ quest for full bargaining rights.
In 1937, the BC government introduced legislation making compulsory arbitration the method for resolving teacher negotiation disputes, a victory for teachers who had previously been entirely at the discretion of school boards. However, the Langley School Board chose to disregard this new law.
In 1939, Connie Jervis, the 24-year-old president of the Langley Teachers’ Association, led teachers in presenting a salary case to the school board. When the board refused an increase, Jervis and the teachers requested binding arbitration, as per the 1937 legislation. The arbitration panel ruled in favor of the teachers, but the school board, with the support of the municipal council, refused to pay the arbitrated award and publicly attacked the teachers as “unpatriotic”.
The teachers took the school board to court, and Judge David Whiteside ruled in their favor, ordering the board to pay the arbitrated amount, which led to 40 Langley teachers being owed an aggregate sum of $2,500. In response, the board chairman, J.W. Berry, threatened to declare any teacher requesting the award “obnoxious” and ask for their resignation. When no teachers resigned, the school board fired Connie Jervis and 13 other teachers, ten of whom were women.
The dismissed teachers appealed to the Board of Reference, which ruled that no legal cause existed for their dismissals, a finding confirmed by the Council of Public Instruction, which ordered their reinstatement. Despite this, the school board demoted Jervis, and four other teachers, assigning them to remote schools. On the first day of school in September 1940, Jervis and the demoted teachers returned to their original classrooms in a “sitdown strike”.
In defiance of the highest educational authority, the school board persisted, leading the Council of Public Instruction to eventually oust the Langley board and appoint a public trustee. The demoted teachers were returned to their previous positions, and the Langley teachers finally received their arbitrated award. The local press, the Langley Advance, decried the government’s intervention as an “unwarranted blow of Gov’t. Dictatorship” and the “most serious week in Langley’s history”.
The “Langley Affair” established that school boards were subject to the laws of the land and ensured that compulsory arbitration for teachers was not further challenged. It highlighted the leadership role of women in the Federation and demonstrated how local actions could have a provincial impact, helping all BC teachers improve their economic status. The unity and strong leadership within the BCTF were crucial to their victory.