Teachers province-wide had voted 90.5 percent in favor of strike action two days earlier to protest Bill 12, which was adopted into law the day the strike began. It maintains existing conditions and imposes a wage freeze until June 2006. Teachers had been working without a contract for over a year.

Rallies backing the teachers were held October 11 in cities across the province. In Vancouver 2,000 teachers, students, and others joined the protest.

The courts are also being used against the teachers. A week into the strike a provincial Supreme Court judge ordered a halt to the teachers union, the B.C. Teachers Federation, providing teachers with $50-a-day strike pay.

Some 12,000 teachers and supporters rallied at the legislature in Victoria to press their demands October 17. The strikers were joined by other public workers, including unionists on Victoria Island who walked off the job and marched in a demonstration that paralyzed downtown Victoria.

Ned Dmytryshyn from British Columbia contributed to this article.
 
 
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Ontario smelter workers strike to defend benefits  
 
 
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