The B.C. Supreme Court has ruled provincial legislation that restricted B.C. teachers rights to negotiate class sizes and composition was an unconstitutional infringement on their freedom of association.

"This infringement was not a reasonable limit demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society under s. 1 of the Charter," wrote Justice Susan Griffin in her ruling, which was issued on Wednesday.

Griffin gave the government 12 months to address the issue before the 2001 legislation would actually become invalid.

The decision comes as the B.C. Teachers Federation prepares to negotiate its next contract with the government of new Premier Christy Clark.

History of acrimony
The B.C. teachers' contract, which expires on June 30, is the first major public sector bargaining to be undertaken by under Clark, whose tenure as Liberal education minister almost a decade ago saw tense relations with the teachers' union.

Clark was the Education Minister in 2001, but it was Labour Minister Graham Bruce who introduced legislation making public education an essential service and limiting the level of job action teachers could take, including the right to negotiate class sizes and composition.

In 2005, the B.C. Teachers Federation was fined $500,000 for staging an illegal job action over the issue of class sizes and support for special-needs students.

But is not only the B.C. Liberal which have had acrimonious relations with the BCTF. New Democrat and Social Credit governments also resorted to legislation to end disputes in past decades.