The Langley Affair, Plaque
This bronze plaque is located at the Langley Teachers’ Association office, 5786 Glover Road, Langley BC. It was developed with the support of the Langley Teachers’ Association.
The plaque was cast at Ornamental Bronze, a unionized foundry in Richmond which has operated since 1928. It was unveiled on March 6, 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.
Langley teachers versus Langley schoolboard
The plaque reads: In 1939-40, a feisty group of Langley teachers, mostly women, stood up to threats, firings, forced transfers, and public ridicule from their employer for insisting on their right to be paid their legally arbitrated salaries. Local president Connie Jervis and her colleagues remained united and strong, despite these acts of intimidation. The Langley School Board had consistently defied the new law requiring compulsory arbitration to resolve salary disputes, even when ordered to pay by the courts. Eventually, the provincial government fined the school board and paid the teachers their arbitrated salaries. Compulsory arbitration rulings for teachers were never again challenged in BC. Langley teachers had won an important victory for all their colleagues across BC. BC Labour Heritage Centre 2017 Union Made Langley Teachers’ Association