BCTF president Susan Lambert speaks at yesterday's (March 21) press conference to announce the union's plans. Video capture from CBC.ca .

Three days and nights of debate at the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) meeting that started last Saturday (March 17) have produced a plan: legal action soon against Bill 22, and a vote on whether to walk out later.

“We believe that this bill has all the hallmarks, all the characteristics of previous bills that have been found illegal by the United Nations, illegal by our Supreme Court, and so there will be a legal challenge,” said BCTF president Susan Lambert.

Those previous bills are Bill 27 and Bill 28, introduced by then-Education Minister Christy Clark in 2002 to strike issues like class-size maximums and class composition from the provisions of any future collective agreement.

Some BCTF union locals will proceed with the withdrawal of extracurricular activities once school resumes on March 26.

On April 17 and 18, the province’s 41,000 teachers will vote on whether to withdraw services, such as extracurricular activity and graduation involvement – and possibly much more.

Also on the table is a possible full-scale illegal strike vote to protest the imposition of Bill 22, the Education Improvement Act, which has legislated the teachers back to work once spring break ends.