Teachers are expecting to be taking job action when they go back to work in September.

The BC Teachers' Federation voted 90 per cent in favour of job action, as negotiations for a new contract haven't been fruitful this spring.

Bargaining began in March, but Maple Ridge Teachers' Association president George Serra said he doesn't expect positive results from summer negotiations.

Locally, the union is able to negotiate some "minor issues," Serra said, but the bigger items are being negotiated provincially, though locals had asked for them to be moved to local bargaining.

Serra said the province is trying to "gut our collective agreements."

He cited changing seniority rights, professional development, and evaluation and dismissal.

The teachers' union was also upset about legislation sending Canada Post employees back to work, Serra said.

"When you see that on a regular basis, bargaining rights are under attack," he said.

Serra said he hopes teachers aren't legislated back to work, and that bargaining will be successful. However, he considers the situation worse now than in 2005 when teachers staged a two-week strike.

Teachers will start job action by withholding administrative work, but will teach and communicate with parents, according to the BCTF.

"Because we won't be doing all the bureaucratic and administrative tasks that have been added onto our jobs, we'll have more time to teach, to offer individual attention to students, and to keep in close communication with parents," said Susan Lambert, president of the BCTF.