Comox Valley teachers will join their counterparts throughout B.C. for an expected three-day full withdrawal of services beginning Monday.According to Comox Valley District Teachers' Association president Steve Stanley, teachers will not block anyone from entering schools but will not instruct students. They will be outside of Comox Valley schools and the school board office with signs and informational pamphlets.The BC Teachers' Federation gave notice of strike action Thursday morning after a provincewide vote Tuesday and Wednesday showed 87 per cent of teachers who voted were in favour of increasing job action. Of the 41,000 teachers in the province, just under 28,000 teachers cast ballots.Stanley pointed out that not all 41,000 members are currently active in the workforce, or even in the country, and said that the turnout for full-time equivalent teachers was strong in the Valley."In our local we had very high turnout," said Stanley, adding that almost all full-time teachers voted, and the percentage in favour was very similar to the provincial vote."We're very strongly in favour, and the feeling of our members is they're very angry and they're very determined to resist Bill 22."Stanley added that the legislation tabled in Victoria this week was the cause of the high turnout and that if a vote was taken a week ago, it could have been a very different outcome.Ironically, Education Minister George Abbott said Bill 22 "sets a cooling-off period" in negotiations between the BC Public School Employers' Association and the BCTF.Debate on the Education Improvement Act began in the legislature Thursday, and if passed, the act includes "stiff financial consequences" for "illegal strike action" during mediation, according to a news release from the Ministry of Education.According to the BCTF, these penalties include $475 per day for individual teachers, $2,500 per day for union officers, and a minimum of $1.3 million per day for the BCTF.Stanley said he considers these fines a signal that the Ministry knew teachers would not support the legislation."They knew that teachers would be offended and very upset by this so they wrote into the legislation fines which are so harsh and so brutal that they're trying to quash any sense of teachers not following the rules," said Stanley. "They certainly poured gasoline on the fire."According to Stanley, if the Bill 22 passes before the end of the strike, the strike would be off because of the fines. Abbott said there is no intent to rush the legislation."Bill 22 is an important and complex piece of legislation that demands careful debate and full understanding by all members of the legislature," said Abbott."I understand that emotions are running high, and we do not want to enflame the situation by acting precipitously and rushing through the legislation."Stanley noted that there are other forms of protest, such as teachers saying no to extra-curricular activities, like sports, drama productions, choir practice or after-school band practice."We're already getting a strong sense from our members that they would like to have a movement across the province to stop all of that stuff ... so that could have a serious impact on kids and schools forever."And that's not where we wanted to go, not anything we're initiating, but that might be our response to these harsh draconian rules."The bill proposes to appoint a mediator, something teachers called for, but specifies that the agreement cannot "impose additional net cost on employers," according to the Ministry of Education.Bill 22 would extend the previous collective agreement to cover the mediation period with a goal of reaching a new agreement by this summer. If no agreement could be reached the mediator would compile a report by the end of June.The bill would also restore class size and related matters to collective bargaining, but this would not be effective until spring 2013. The mediator could only address issues related to "manner and consequences" of class organization this year.The BCTF and BCPSEA have met face-to-face 78 times since negotiations began one year ago.writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com