Exams will be marked, students will complete year: B.C. education minister

VANCOUVER – B.C. Education Minister Peter Fassbender is guaranteeing students will have a successful end to their school year in spite of a looming, full-scale teachers’ strike.

Fassbender says he doesn’t yet know exactly how administrators will ensure exams will be graded, but ministry staff are working out a plan.

The minister says he is “profoundly disappointed” by an announcement that the teachers’ union is moving to hold a strike vote this coming Monday and Tuesday, as well as launch a third week of rotating walkouts.

Fassbender says the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s reduced wage demand to about 12 per cent is still four times higher than what other public-sector unions have recently settled for.

The government’s bargaining agent was at the table again today and Fassbender says they’re willing to negotiate non-stop to reach a deal.

BCTF president Jim Iker said the union was attempting to put maximum pressure on the government by intensifying job action after getting an unfavourable ruling from the provincial labour board that allows the employer to dock pay 10 per cent during the ongoing dispute.