An Abbotsford teacher and union executive's bid to replace Susan Lambert as president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation has gone sideways.

Rick Guenther, an Abbotsford teacher who has been an independent BCTF executive member for four years, challenged Lambert for the top job.

Guenther, a former president of the Abbotsford District Teachers' Association and a teacher on call, is associated with a more conservative faction of the union.

Lambert was re-elected by a wide margin in a vote at the union's annual general meeting Tuesday, winning 429 to 238.

Guenther did well in the 2010 polls when he was reelected for a second term as a member at large.

Tuesday at the AGM, the province's teachers discussed whether to hold an illegal strike or to withdraw extracurricular services such as coaching, after-school clubs and tutoring across the province.

The Mission Teachers' Union, along with more than a dozen other teacher associations in B.C.'s school districts, has already voted to suspend voluntary, out-ofschool activities.

BCTF presidents are elected for one-year terms.

Lambert was acclaimed president in 2010, after Irene Lanzinger stepped down following three uncontested years in the job.

Lanzinger had followed Jinny Sims, who was president when the BCTF staged a 10-day illegal strike in 2005, and is now an NDP MP.

RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com