Elevate your local knowledge
Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!
B.C. teachers and employers hold marathon bargaining session over weekend
Original Publication Date: September 15, 2014 3:07AM
Publication Updated: January 8, 2025 10:07PM
VANCOUVER – Representatives for B.C.'s public school teachers and their employers bargained through the weekend in another effort to resolve the strike that has postponed the start of the school year for more than half a million students.
The two sides met with veteran mediator Vince Ready on Saturday and again Sunday at a Vancouver-area hotel, but at the end of the marathon session there was no comment on whether any progress was made.
As the parties left the table early Monday morning they maintained a media blackout on their talks, saying only that they planned to resume negotiations later in the day.
The teachers went on strike two weeks before the summer break, with wages, class size and support staff levels at the centre of the stalemate.
The union voted on Wednesday to end the strike if the government would agree to enter binding arbitration, however, the offer was flatly rejected by Education Minister Peter Fassbender.
On Thursday, Premier Christy Clark said she was determined to get a deal before she leaves on a trade mission to India on Oct. 9, three days after the legislature resumes.
Over the past week, unions across the country have donated or loaned millions of dollars to a hardship fund for B.C.'s teachers, who haven`t been paid in months.
Last January a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the provincial government violated teachers' rights in 2002 when it declared they could no longer negotiate the size of classes or the number of support staff in classrooms.
The province is appealing that decision.
Join the Conversation!
Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
One response
Teachers Tyranny; Above the Law.Nothing less than Criminal; the richest country in the world, flush with every kind of resource and minerals you can imagine, exports doubling every five years for the last 15 years on the backs of biggest economic boom the world has ever seen, business has never been so great…and yet BC Fiberal government claims BC is broke; now if that ain’t poor management [that should be fired], or its just plane criminal, and charges of treason and breach of public trust should be laid. You don’t need a phd to understand something fishy is going on; simple grade school math reveals corruption and subversion of both provincial and federal governments who allow corporations to self regulate free range on public resources in exchange for a mere 5 cents for every $1 of public wealth mined from the province. We are told this is the democracy our forefathers fought and died for; Corporations like Mount Polley mines lobby thousands of dollars to political parties in exchange for sweet self regulation, lax laws, and low revenue taxes.A simple CRA audit of corporations calling themselves political parties and a RCMP investigation into corruption and miss use of public funds will no doubt reveal crimes of subversion and corruption. How else can it be explained; the richest country in the world is not able to afford proper care for veterans, health care, wages for paramedics, doctors and nurses, teachers and special ed assistants?Last I checked members of government are public servants, sworn to serve members of the public. There should be no secrets kept from members of the public; the details of contract negotiations should be made public so everyone can understand what the situation is and have input via public pressure through constituents. The government has a moral and legal obligation to provide for members of the public, and shouldn’t be able to sit back for six months and say “sorry, we don’t want to run a deficit” there has to be a better reason. Full disclosure is required, otherwise what have they got to hide. They tell us we shouldn’t be afraid to provide access to private personal information if we are law abiding with nothing to hide, well what’s good for the goose is good for the gander; if government has nothing to hide then it will have no problem being audited and have all public matter and contracts disclosed. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in a letter written from a jail cell; “never forget everything Hitler did was legal”. Today’s governments make whatever they want “legal” but is it lawful to not provide proper funding for things like health care and education?Sovereign Brian-Arthur