B.C.'s public-school teachers are vowing to continue their strike even after a Supreme Court judge declared they were in contempt of court.

Union leader Jinny Sims said she tried to contact B.C. Labour Minister Mike De Jong after the court decision to set up talks.

If de Jong doesn't meet union demands, Sims said, the walkout would continue despite the ruling.

"Unless we have a resolution, our members will not be reporting to work on Tuesday morning," Sims, president of the B.C. Teachers Federation, told reporters.

"The actions we're taking do not signal any disrespect for the law. Rather, we are engaging in a political protest against the provincial government and its unjust legislation."

On Sunday, Justice Nancy Brown ruled in favour of an application by the British Columbia Public School Employers Association.

The association wanted the court to uphold a ruling from the B.C. Labour Relations Board that deemed any strike by the B.C. Teachers Federation to be illegal.

Brown declared that the teacher's walkout was in contempt of court.

She said obeying court orders is the foundation of western society and if the rule of law is not followed, "anarchy cannot be far behind."

"No citizen or group of citizens may choose which orders they may obey," said Brown.

She ordered the parties to be back in court Thursday to decide penalties.

The union could face steep fines and possibly even jail terms for the executive.

Some 42,000 teachers across the province walked off the job Friday in protest at legislation which freezes their wages until June 2006.

The bill passed its third and final reading Friday, triggering the walkout.

The strike affects at least 600,000 students.

Sims says her members would not return to the classroom until they had a fair contract.

She has called on the provincial government to "sit down and find solutions" to the deadlock.

"It is going to take a resolution to our three issues for the schools to be open on Tuesday," she said.

The union will also ask the province's Labour Relations Board to reconsider its ruling on the strike's legality.

BCPSEA chief lawyer and spokesman Michael Hancock urged the teachers to return to work.

"We hope that the BCTF will hear the message that the judge delivered today and will go back to work," he told the Vancouver Province.

"If they haven't gone back to work by Thursday, then we're going to have a very significant penalty phase to deal with."

Teachers want a 15-per-cent wage increase, better working conditions, including smaller class sizes, and restoration of full bargaining rights.

B.C. teachers have been subjected to imposed contracts four times since 1993. The Liberal government passed legislation in 2001 making education an essential service and banning strikes.