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strike

Faculty agrees to private mediation with university in wake of strike notice

KAMLOOPS - A private mediator will be brought in to help settle a nearly year-long labour dispute between faculty and administration at Thompson Rivers University. Faculty at the university agreed to private mediation with school administrators following a 72-hour strike notice that was delivered yesterday morning, Jan. 11. While the TRU Faculty Association have taken...

TRU negotiations may extend into new year

KAMLOOPS - The faculty and administration at Thompson Rivers University will have one last opportunity to reach an agreement this year. According to its website, the university’s faculty association and administration met Dec. 10 and negotiated for the majority of the day. There is no word how productive the talks were. The university says it...

Thompson Rivers University ‘remains optimistic’ about contract negotiations with faculty

KAMLOOPS – Thompson Rivers University administration believes a collective agreement with its faculty can be reached by the New Year. According to the university’s website, it "remains optimistic" progress is being made in the on-going contract negotiations. Administration and the faculty association met Dec. 7, and will meet again today, Dec. 10 and again tomorrow....

Medical marijuana patients shocked by Vernon dispensary closures

VERNON - Medical marijuana patients coming to The Herbal Health Centre this week are shocked and upset to see the shelves empty and devoid of their medicine. The health centre, along with a coalition of other local dispensaries, has suspended retail sales in response to an RCMP warning to shut down. The dispensaries are closing...

Agreement reached in Kamloops recycling strike

KAMLOOPS – An end is in sight for the recycling strike that has lasted nearly eight weeks in Kamloops after the Steelworker’s Union reached an agreement with Emterra Environmental today. The two sides reached a tentative deal Thursday, Aug. 13, and employees are set to vote on it this evening. Marty Gibbons, Steelworkers’ Union president,...

Union says recycling strike could last longer; city not paying Emterra

KAMLOOPS - Locals should brace themselves for even lengthier delays in recycling service; five weeks after Emterra Environmental workers began their strike, seats are still empty at the bargaining table. Marty Gibbons, the Kamloops chapter president of the local United Steelworkers union that represents the workers, says staff are digging in its heels for the...

Emterra strike could ‘overwhelm’ small recycling business

KAMLOOPS – Early on it was thought a strike by employees at the Emterra Environmental recycling plant would not affect curbside collection but since the strike began earlier this week not only was curbside collection stopped, but exactly what to do with your recyclables became a bit unclear. The strike officially started Monday and the city...

TNRD says recycling services will continue

KAMLOOPS - Recycling pickup is not being offered to Kamloops residents while Emterra Environmental employees strike, but the regional district does not foresee any disruption in recycling services oustide of the city. In a release today, June 23, Jamie Vieira, Manager of Environmental Services for the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, says even though the district uses...

Emterra workers ready to strike by week’s end

KAMLOOPS – The people who handle the city's recycling contract could be on strike by Friday, but the city says pickup will continue on a normal schedule. Emterra Environmental employees, the company currently holding the city’s recycling contract, will strike by Friday barring a major breakthrough with management. Marty Gibbons, president of the United Steelworkers...

Centre at Naramata risks being shut down

PENTICTON - The Centre at Naramata risks a chance of shutting down unless the organization can raise $500,000 by the end of the month. The Centre has had financial difficulties, which became known to the public this past spring when 30 CUPE workers, employed by the Centre went on strike. A statement released earlier this...

Teacher strike throws off extra-curricular programs in the North Okanagan

VERNON - The B.C. teacher strike has thrown off many school sports and other non-curricular programs, though some activities remain on course thanks to parents and outside maintenance workers. Superintendent of the Vernon School District Joe Rogers says some fields aren’t being maintained due to picket lines, while others run in conjunction with Greater Vernon...

PROSKIW: The lesson of the day: It’s okay to fight dirty

At a recent B.C. Teachers Federation anti-government rally, one of the speakers brought someone with her to the microphone. Her five-year-old son was suddenly before 300 cheering people on the side of a busy highway. The boy tries to hide in her arms a few times but after some gentle prodding he eventually parrots “I want school.”...

TEACHERS’ STRIKE: Huge rally planned Wednesday; Soccer fields closing?

WEST KELOWNA – Christy Clark's constituency office better get used to company. More than 200 people gathered out front of the Premier's West Kelowna constituency office on Dobbin Road today—what should have been the first day of school—to add pressure in her dispute with the province's teachers and a whole lot more may be coming...

RCMP investigate aggressive behaviour on CUPE picket line

PENTICTON - A manager of the Naramata Centre allegedly displayed aggressive and threatening behaviour on the picket line Monday night where CUPE workers have been picketing for months. RCMP have been notified of a damaged tent and the manager’s aggressive behaviour. RCMP are reportedly investigating the matter, CUPE B.C. Secretary Treasurer Paul Faoro said. “The...

Only some summer programs affected by strike

KAMLOOPS - While school district summer school programs have been cancelled third party summer programs will not be subject to picketing, according to the local teacher’s union president. “There won’t be any third party picketing… where they just rent the facility,” Jason Karpuk says. “They rent, they do the hiring, the board doesn’t provide any...

Centre’s strike take toll on community and local businesses

PENTICTON — Naramata’s local economy will take a hit this summer while the community’s largest organization is on strike. Last week, the administration of the Centre at Naramata decided to pull the plug in summer programming, in order to prove their striking efforts were serious. Employees have been standing on the picket line since May,...