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teacher strike
Be leery of this email targeting education support payments
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Parents looking to get the $40-per-day temporary education support payment promised by the government during the B.C. teachers’ strike are advised to be aware of a fraudulent email which includes a link to a false Canada Revenue Agency website. A Maple Ridge woman contacted the RCMP after receiving an email which linked to a site...
What Monday will look like for back to school
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Schools across the province are set to reopen to students Monday now that the provincial government and teachers have successfully negotiated a new contract. Many districts are adopting ‘normal opening day procedures’ for Monday, Sept. 22 and here is a breakdown of what you can expect in each district. Individual schools may adopt...
The agreement that got teachers back to school
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Teachers agreed to a new contract with the government after more than 18 months of negotiations and while not all the details have been released a picture of the deal is starting to emerge. Negotiations began in February 2013 and by the end of the school year the contract expired. Negotiations continued through...
Teachers vote yes, school back in session next week
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The teachers vote is in and school will be back in session next week. A total of 75 per cent of teachers cast ballots Thursday with more than 27,000 voting to accept the agreement. The number of teachers voting was up significantly from ratification votes in 2006 and 2012 and on par with...
Districts planning for back to school
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - As teachers make their decision today whether to ratify a contract agreement with the province, school boards are busy making plans in the hopes that students will be back in school next week. Several districts have already reached out to parents to let them know the plan for next week and most are...
Kamloops teachers, protesters welcome Clark and cabinet with loud rally
KAMLOOPS - The atmosphere was one of celebration as Premier Christy Clark and her cabinet sat in on a luncheon in Kamloops Wednesday, though outside teachers gathered to continue the rally for a better education system. “A lot of the issues around public education still remain,” David Komljenovic, president of the local teachers’ union and...
UPDATE: Historic 6-year term, more teachers part of new agreement
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A tentative deal has been reached between teachers and the province and that means students could be back in school as early as Monday. Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Association President David Komljenovic sits on the bargaining committee for the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. He confirmed following a marathon bargaining session ending early Tuesday morning that Monday...
Teacher strike 2014: The timeline
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A lot has happened since negotiations began on the latest contract for B.C. teachers and it’s easy to lose track of how we got to where we are today. Here we take a look back at the basics, where we are and what steps the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School...
Vernon business hurting during teacher strike
VERNON - Uzair Shahid is supposed to be in school. Instead, he’s working shifts at his parents’ corner store on 27 Street. “It’s really annoying—you can’t go to school and it affects the business as well,” Shahid says. While he doesn’t mind making a little extra cash, he says the teacher strike is hurting business...
Vernon parents, students call for an end to the strike
VERNON - Teachers have been glued to their picket lines for days, but this week, there were some new faces on the block. Vernon parents, joined by students, took to 27 Street Monday afternoon with protest signs calling for an end to the strike. “The teachers have been walking the picket line long enough, I...
Fassbender: ‘It’s driving me crazy’
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The Education Minister kicked off a press conference Monday afternoon with not one, but two movie references (Groundhog Day and Back to the Future if you were wondering), following them with a counter proposal to the teachers’ union second request to enter binding arbitration. Since talks broke down just before school was set to...
UPDATE: General strike in support of teachers put on hold
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Plans to call for a general strike beginning Wednesday have been put on hold while B.C. residents wait for the results of a teachers' union vote on suspending the strike and whether the government will agree to binding arbitration. A group of concerned citizens originally planned a three-day general strike to begin Wednesday...
Teachers’ union continues push for binding arbitration
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Even after the B.C. government said no to binding arbitration this weekend, the teachers’ union won't give up hope. The union feels arbitration could end the strike and get its members a fair settlement. “Binding arbitration is a fair, practical and pragmatic approach,” B.C. Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker said Monday morning at...
Fassbender not a fan of binding arbitration
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The education minister was not willing to say no to a proposal put forward by the teachers’ union this morning, but he did go as far as saying he is not a fan of binding arbitration. During a press conference this afternoon, Peter Fassbender said binding arbitration takes away the responsibility of the...
Teachers’ union has plan to get school back in session
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Just two days after saying the union would not consider a vote to suspend the current strike Jim Iker, the teachers’ union president, says they would recommend members vote to suspend the strike if the government is willing to agree to binding arbitration. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation president says this is another option...
Your kids aren’t getting an education so far this year, but international students are
VERNON - While B.C. students remain cut off from school during the teacher strike, some students from abroad are accessing educational resources through international programs in school districts. Vernon school district is one of the provincial leaders in attracting 200 international students this year. Supt. Joe Rogers says they are participating in field trips and other...
TEACHERS’ STRIKE: How much money the Terry Fox Foundation stands to lose
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The kids, the teachers, the government, the parents. We’ve heard over and over again how the current labour dispute is affecting them, but what about the organizations that also rely on schools to help with fundraising? Every year during September, students raise money for the Terry Fox Run but this year, unless teachers and...
“We’re not suspending any strike:” Iker
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Teachers’ union president Jim Iker has declined the Premier's request to suspend the strike while bargaining continues. Earlier today, Christy Clark urged him, before a packed news conference, to allow teachers to vote to end the strike or suspend it. Two hours later, Iker held is own conference and stood his ground. “We’re...
Parents taking control during teacher strike
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - With no end to the current labour dispute in sight many parents are wondering how they can make sure their kids do not fall behind in their education — book sections in many stores are picked over, only a few workbooks remaining, and many school-age programs filled up before the summer was even...
Endless summer in B.C…. snow in Alberta?
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Mother Nature is welcoming some Alberta kids back to school in Canadian style today — with a snow storm. The southeast corner of Alberta, from Brooks to the B.C. border, is currently under a heavy rainfall warning but combined with temperatures hovering not much above zero some areas are instead seeing wet snow....
At least someone’s getting a laugh over the teachers’ strike
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It appears someone working for the provincial government's web department has added a little ironic wit—if not annoying editorial—to the rhetoric on the teachers strike. When all hope of ending the teachers strike before Sept. 2 was lost on the weekend, the B.C. government opened up its website so parents can register to...
STAHN: One more loss to the teachers strike
I always loved back to school time as a kid. It meant new clothes, new school supplies and getting to see all my friends again after what seemed like forever. This year students have been stripped of that experience and parents have been denied the ability to plan and schedule based on a normal school...
HELSTON: Why Vernon teachers weren’t picketing outside schools this week
Earlier this week, I went out to cover strike action on the local front. The problem was, I couldn’t find any teachers. There was little sign of them in the city; no sound of car horns being honked in support, no thumbs being wagged in the air, no protest signs, no chanting, no teachers. In...
Vernon teachers, parents frustrated after passionate plea to school board
VERNON - Teachers and parents urged the Vernon school board to push for mediation between the B.C. Teachers Federation and the provincial government at a meeting Wednesday. Tensions were high in the packed boardroom, which had standing room only. School board trustees, teachers and parents all agreed they needed to get students back in the...