Premier Clark hopeful teachers dispute will be resolved shortly
Posted May 27, 2014 6:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Premier Christy Clark is hoping for a deal with teachers in the next few days. This is despite several teachers telling News1130 they don’t think anything can be resolved before June.
The system for bargaining is broken according to Clark, who adds there has to be a new way to bring this to an end.
“The less time the parties spend in the room bargaining, the longer this is going to take and I hope we can get this settled in 24 hours, 48 hours if people would sit down and decide not to strike and sit down and talk instead,” she says.
Tomorrow is the meeting with the Labour Relations Board relating to teacher pay being docked by 10 per cent.
“I’m hoping that both parties, that we can sit down at the table and negotiate an end to this strike as quickly as possible. Children are being put in the middle of this thing and it’s not right. It’s not fair,” she adds.
This week has seen teachers carry out rotating strikes throughout the province, with government responding by imposing a lockout.
Last week, the BC Public School Employers’ Association sent a letter to the BCTF indicating teachers salaries would be reduced by five per cent, beginning this week.
The letter also warned that salaries would then be reduced by 10 per cent the moment a walkout affected any school.
You can find a full list of planned public school closures in BC this week here.
An announcement is expected later this week on if walkouts will continue next week.
